Don't Hide the Flame

Every four years since 1896, the summer Olympic games are held somewhere on this planet, with millions of the world's people celebrating the prowess and achievements of their fellow men.
Preceding these games, is the running of the torch, and it's flame has been said to symbolize the, "endeavour for protection and struggle for victory", as well as, "the light of spirit, knowledge, and life." The games unite the world with comraderie and sportsmanship. A true sign of hope for those of us who refuse to accept confessions of hopelessness, "the end is nigh!, the end is nigh!", for professions of achievement, "it's about to bloom more magnificent than before." Could this spirit of comraderie also exist in a more intellectual sense of sport?
An individual does not need to have a college degree, come from privilege, or understand all the elements at work to make a difference. What is required is the desire to be concerned and an, "intellectual honesty, which consists in knowing what one does know, constantly expanding one's knowledge, and never evading or failing to correct a contradiction."
To paraphrase a 20th century philosopher , "three elements are to be considered to form a hypothesis on the future of a nation: it's present political trends, it's sum of intellectual achievements of individuals, and it's sense of life formed by every individual child's early impressions of the world around it: of the ideas it is taught (which it may or may not accept) and of the way of acting it observes and evaluates (which it may evaluate correctly or not)."
We, as knowledgable citizens, must call for candidates of any office to rise above the rhetorical bedlam and fallacious debate surrounding present political trends with an ability to "convey knowledge which necessarily includes the ability to apply abstract principles to concrete problems, recognizes the principles in specific issues , demonstrates them, and advocates a consistent course of action."
An inventory of past intellectual achievements will quickly supply a multitude of knowledge, scriptural wisdom,  and technological/scientific conveniences from which anyone could draw inspiration and empathy.
Finally, the American sense of Life, that flame  of our purest childhood aspirations, imagination, and the right to be should not be inhibited by indoctrinated fear or established laziness and a citizenry that promotes candidates with this ambition may be the only way to keep the flame burning bright.