From my vantage point at the curb, in front of Green Bay West High School, I could see the approach of the police escort followed closely by a large black car. All of us students crowded to the road and started waving and cheering as the car passed.  There in the back seat was former president, Dwight Eisenhower, waving back with a beaming smile. He looked old… like my grandfather.

Here was the 5 star general who had led the military victory over Nazism and Fascism; the Republican president who had enhanced social security, promoted desegregation, and protected the amazingly complex and ecologically precious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; a visionary who had established the interstate highways; a politician who could work with both his fellow Republicans and with Democrats for the good of America; a leader who truly tried to keep corporate greed from subverting the regulatory imperatives of government. My question today is, were we seeing an endangered species?

Eisenhower is considered by many among our top ten best presidents. He guided the ship of state through the turbulent waters of post World War II. Great leaders are visionary. They can think several generations out and are able to see beyond the mere short term that mires the mediocre. George Washington set the tone for America’s future by establishing the presidency as administrator more than king. Abraham Lincoln accomplished the nearly impossible task of holding the country together while ending the reprehensible and self destructive practice of slavery. He actually set aside one of the first and finest wilderness areas anywhere, Yosemite, deeding it to Californiawith the caveat that it remain pristine. It is now, of course, a National Park.

Theodore Roosevelt insured that we wouldn’t sacrifice our soul on the altar of Mammon, when he protected many millions of acres of America the Beautiful as parks and national monuments, beyond the reach of consumptive capitalists. Richard Nixon (Eisenhower’s vice president) is considered by some a failure, but is viewed by others as great… or near great, for some of his remarkable accomplishments. He established the Environmental Protection Agency, but that’s not all he did for future generations. There’s also the National Environmental Policy Act, The Clean Air Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, The Marine Mammal Protection Act, and The Endangered Species Act.  He truly left a lasting legacy, regardless whether our current politicians or lobbyists find it convenient.

Now it’s time to select another leader. April marked the opening round for our pair of presidential pugilists. Since there are no other significant competitors both sides can focus on the fracas. SuperPAC spending is now somehow supposed to help select our next president. But only the nattering nabobs of negativism are happy with the recent judicial ruling, opening the floodgates for unlimited spending on whiney ads with twisted fibs about the bums running for office. Unfortunately some of our finest visionary presidents would have almost no chance of getting elected if they ran today. Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, would all be considered too “liberal” or perhaps insufficiently religious.

Last month marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic.  How appropriate… you might say we are embarking on another presidential campaign voyage. Lots of issues are being tossed around… the economy and unemployment are being singled out. Candidates also talk about the need for adequate troop levels, weaponry, surveillance, and security. This is akin to messing with, dare I say it; the deck furniture on the Titanic of state. There’s a far greater and more destructive problem out there. Just one example of the impacts of global warming: sea level is acting like a slow motion tsunami… rising inexorably toward Wall Street.

But we don’t hear candidates acknowledging the looming iceberg of global warming.  Most of us know it’s out there. Once again environment is what’s missing from presidential politics. It’s consistently taken for granted. Mediocre leaders who lack vision will simply promote drilling, mining, and polluting as if there’s no problem. This despite a spate of scientific evidence to the contrary. I hate mixed metaphors, but it’s akin to throwing the smoke detector away because it’s too noisy.

Titanic was considered a technological triumph, unsinkable, a symbol of mankind’s dominance over the forces of nature. Some say they should have proceeded through the iceberg field with a bit more caution. Perhaps they were feeling invincible despite warnings. Whatever the case, the giant iceberg loomed out of the darkness and the rest, as they say, is history. We appear not to have learned that we really do not have dominance over the forces of nature.

A politician’s stance on environmental protection offers a glimpse into her/ his true commitment to America’s, indeed the world’s, future. The inappropriate but increasing influence of short sighted, self serving plutocrats doesn’t help. There are some looming icebergs. Our country has weathered many turbulent times, but none as scary as today’s issues including species loss, climate change, pollution, and population growth.

In his now famous farewell speech Dwight Eisenhower expressed his fear that too much influence from corporate power… what he called “the military industrial complex” could do real and lasting harm to the U.S. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

President Obama was right on the mark, in a recent State of the Union Address, when he echoed Eisenhower’s fear. Regarding the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United, he pointed out that the ruling had… “reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.”

As for those who complain about too much government; remember Lincoln’s hope, that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.