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A sense of having a mandate is a dangerous thing for a government, or indeed for any corporate body.  It is equally true in a presidential campaign, as we see unfolding in 2016 by the Democratic and Republican Parties for President of the United States. 

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the presumptive nominees, but political life, like life in general, at its deepest level cannot be viewed simply in the short-term.  It must be viewed also in the long term with a visceral connection to the “collective will” of the people.  Will that happen?  We shall see. 

Alas, there is little evidence of a seamless connection of this “collective will” with either candidate within their respective parties much less with voters as both political parties have been ruptured by discord.  This climate of dissension appears endemic to this most divisive age.  This happens when trust between the people and its leadership disappears.   

It is a dangerous time when too much space separates the “collective will” of the led from the leadership.  Should that breach be ignored, should public opinion be manipulated to the point that the “collective will” of the people is problematic, then we find ourselves in Nowhere Land. 

The problem with a mandate is that it is never about the leadership, always about the “collective will” of the people. This is not limited to the people as a collective in the nation, but to the private citizen in the community as well.

The political mind of the times too often displays a utopian complacency thinking that “collective will” mirrors its own self-interests. This prevents such a mind from seeing the world clearly, the problems of the world truthfully, and its own motivation honestly. Whatever the case may be, this has led to another important crossroads in American as well as world history. 

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