Have You Ever Considered Running For Office?

Answering the questions people have
asked (or I have asked myself) about
my past, present, or future.

Somebody once said I should because I looked the part of a patriot: tricorn, breeches, long coat. If only it were that simple, and if only people's hearts were in the right places.

I am not going to go into another one of my lectures about how we have to take ownership of the current political morass and change the way we vote. I will tell you that having a political life requires much more than just having a heart of service. You have to be above it all, but not out of touch with any of it. You have to know the price of gas, the price of a house, the price of a tax law, and the price of freedom. You must know the law but not be a lawyer. You have to know the issues but not be hamstrung by convention. You have to work in Washington but not be inside the beltway. You have to love GOD... but not too much.

My vision of a politician's life is this parade of contrasts and contradictions, doing and saying different things not because you're (necessarily) a slimeball, but because the job pulls you in different directions while you're wanting to pull your own way. People complain about the so-called ruling class, but it takes a certain kind of person to be able to handle all this. Some do it well, and some botch it. Some do their homework and understand the issues, and others dump it onto staff and let lobbyists hold their hands. I would also like to be able to actually read the bills I vote up and down on, but nobody seems to do that. And it's no secret that they don't, as voluminous as some of them are.

Something smaller, you ask? Like school board? Er, no. I resent how these governing bodies have become the training wheels for those who want a political career. I don't see myself getting along very well with people who use kids as pawns. Ideology has no place on a school board. If you're not there to help children learn as effectively as possible, get the heck out and leave it to those who still care.

I currently hold leadership positions in two organizations: Sons of the American Revolution and the Seven Pipers Scottish Society here in Tucson. Neither of them are political, and that's exactly how I want it. We're all united in our purposes, we can all work together to make decisions, and nobody is left holding the short end. If only some of that attitude made it into the places that mattered...