General public knowledge of history regarding political leaders is another casualty of the American education system. As a result, the voting public does not know how to evaluate the political leaders who will get their votes.
Lacking knowledge about what makes a good leader or an incompetent leader, voters depend on information they receive from their favorite media echo chambers. As a result, their votes are not informed by education, but by political advertising. This pervasive public ignorance of the qualities of a good leader is just one more reason why Christian Nationalists have ascended to power. Knowledgeable voters will not vote for Christian Nationalists because they understand the emptiness of their values and character.
Politicians, on the other hand, know how the system works and the see that the facts of their character mean nothing to voters. Most politician learn how to be a politician by watching others and mimicking what the successful ones do. Unfortunately, too many politicians succeed despite the fact that they have serious character flaws.
The good news here is that there is much to be learned by studying the character of past presidents (i.e., Washington and Lincoln) who had exemplary reputations for leadership.
See these links to learn about their characters and personalities.
More important than what politicians can learn from these character studies is what voters can learn. Sad to say, voters typically choose who they will vote for by looking at party affiliation and policy positions as they are represented in various media. Rarely, if ever, do they make character and leadership experience their primary qualification for voting. It is no exaggeration to say that Christian Nationalists have ascended to power because voters do not consider character when they choose who to vote for.
This issue is another one where journalists and scholars can fill the knowledge gap — if they choose to do so — until state and federal education systems see the long-term public value of teaching everyone how to evaluate candidates for public office.
Until then, here are some resources for studying character in politics: