A Dream for the 2028 Election

There’s a great scene at the end of the movie, “American President” where President Shepherd surprises the press corp by showing up and delivering an impromptu speech to the nation. He begins that speech with these words:

“There’s For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being President of this country was, to a certain extent, about character. And although I've not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I have been here three years and three days, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character.”

I think part of the reason why this speech is listed as one of the greatest in cinema history is because of this line. It touches on a deep and nearly universal desire for the leader of the free world to represent the best of us. Or, in other words, to be a person of high moral character.

In light of a week where the current President affirmed a seemingly unjust conviction of his political opponent and his political opponent received a conviction for giving hush money to a porn star he committed adultery with, this idea of character has remained top of mind.

I started thinking about 2028, the next Presidential election which seems likely to feature someone other than Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And all I could think of was a prayer to ask God to send us two candidates capable of withstanding the most stringent of character tests.

But as I prayed about all this, as I shared my hope with God, I began to wonder, how I would stand up against the most stringent tests of character.

For centuries, the Church has challenged her children to consider the last four things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. Death, heaven and hell seem to get all the attention, don’t they? And the final judgement rarely gets much attention. This is despite the spiritual masters like St. Augustine insisting on its importance: “Great is already the punishment of sin when the fear of the future divine judgment is lost.”

The final judgement, not unlike the ideal presidential race, is all about character. It’s all about who the thoughts, words and actions of your life have turned you into.

This kind of message, life is all about character, can sometimes seem like a tired trope. But in a cultural moment when it seems like the entire country is deeply disturbed by the character of one of the two people who are going to be elected President in November, it’s important to remember. It’s not just their character that matters. It’s yours too.

And their character doesn’t just matter because they are running for President. It matters because the soul of President Biden and former President Trump matter far more than whether they win in November.