We need leadership. We don't need a doubling down on the failed

“We need leadership. We don’t need a doubling down on the failed politics of the past.” Thus spoke Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, a man who had seen the machinery of government from within and knew the weariness of repetition that too often haunts it. His words rise beyond the walls of politics and touch something deeper — the eternal cry for renewal, for courage in the face of decay, for leadership that dares to break the chains of the familiar. In his statement lies a warning to all ages: that when a people become content to repeat the failures of the past, they forfeit the promise of the future.

Ryan’s declaration came in a time of division, when the old ways of governance — partisanship, blame, and inertia — seemed to choke the life out of vision. He called not merely for reform, but for a rebirth of purpose. “We need leadership,” he said — and by that, he meant not titles or offices, but character, clarity, and courage. For leadership, in its truest form, is not the preservation of power, but the pursuit of truth. It is the art of guiding a people not to what is easy or known, but to what is right and necessary.

To “double down on the failed politics of the past” is to mistake persistence for wisdom, to walk in circles and call it progress. History is full of such follies. Think of the last days of the Roman Republic, when senators clung to their crumbling traditions, blind to the changing tides of empire. They spoke endlessly of virtue while corruption hollowed their hearts. They refused to see that what had once saved Rome could no longer sustain her. And so the Republic fell — not because it lacked laws or armies, but because it lacked leaders with the courage to transcend the past.

Ryan’s words echo that ancient lesson. He warns against the comfort of nostalgia, the belief that by repeating what once worked, we can heal what now is broken. But the river of time flows forward, not back, and what was wisdom yesterday may be folly today. True leadership does not seek refuge in memory; it faces the horizon. It listens to history’s lessons, yes, but it does not live in its shadow. To lead is to see what others cannot yet see — to imagine what has not yet been built, and to dare to build it.

Consider Abraham Lincoln, who stood amid the ruins of a divided nation. Many counseled him to compromise, to cling to the politics that had failed before — to patch the wound with words rather than justice. But Lincoln, with the quiet fire of vision, refused. He would not double down on failure; he would lead forward. In doing so, he did not merely preserve the Union — he transformed it, giving birth to a new moral order that expanded freedom itself. His leadership was not of comfort, but of conscience. He looked not to the ghosts of the past, but to the promise of the future.

Paul Ryan’s quote, though spoken in the modern arena of policy, carries the same moral weight. It calls each of us — citizen and ruler alike — to reject the cycle of blame and complacency that binds societies to stagnation. It reminds us that leadership is not about defending the old world, but about creating the new. The politics of yesterday, if left unchallenged, become the chains of tomorrow. What the world needs is not the echo of what has been, but the voice of what can be — a voice brave enough to say, “This must change, and I will begin the change.”

Therefore, let this be the lesson drawn from his words: in every sphere of life — in nations, in communities, in the human heart — when faced with failure, do not cling to it. Do not “double down” on what has not worked, merely because it is familiar. Instead, seek leadership, within yourself and in others, that is guided by vision, humility, and courage. The path of renewal begins when we dare to release the past and walk toward the unknown with faith in what is possible.

So, my listener, remember this wisdom: the world will always tempt you to repeat the old ways — to hide in what is known, even when it has failed you. Resist that temptation. The future belongs to the brave, to those who lead not with nostalgia, but with conviction. Let your life, your work, and your choices embody the courage of Paul Ryan’s call — to seek true leadership, and to rise above the ruins of old politics, building instead the dawn of something worthy of those yet to come.