Election season. It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. Let me explain. Some journalists interview candidates and if the candidate says they love cats and have 50, the news gatherer in question will go out and count the cats, then check the veterinary records to ensure the candidate has valid vaccinations for all 50.
I don’t operate that way. If a candidate says they have 50 cats, I am going to take them at their word, even though I have been told they secretly loathe cats and spend most of their time relocating felines to other towns in other counties. Here’s why.
It isn’t my intention to run a ‘gotcha’ ploy and throw the candidate for a loop when faced with the cat-facts. It is my intention to show them as they present themselves. You, the readers and voters, are smart enough to know the cat facts. You hear the same rumors and gossip that I do and you consider the source, just like I do.
If a candidate says they are a Rhodes scholar and graduated from Harvard with a 4.0 GPA but in reality have never been out of the county, can barely read and don’t have the sense the good Lord gave a goose, the people who have known them since they were toddlers will have the last laugh at the polls. You know how your roads are, how your tax bills are delivered and whether someone is in the office when you need your questions answered.
You know if the job is being done properly because the proof is in the pudding. And you are living with that proof every day. If there needs to be a change, you have the power to make it. If the incumbent is doing a good job, you have the power to let them continue doing the job.
Occasionally, there is a situation where the office is a clean slate because someone termed out, was promoted like MarkWayne Mullin, decided not to run again or even passed away while in office.
Then there is a little more information that needs to be gathered. I do what I can to inform without being biased, but a good bit of the work falls on you, the voter.
You must determine what values you want in the person who represents you. Should the office be filled by the guy who spends the most money on slick adverts in your mail box or TV ads that sound like a docudrama, or do you want the person who is most like you, worked their behind off and decided they could do more for the people around them?
It is up to you to determine what to believe and what the candidate’s motivation to run is. Is he or she just wanting the job to make more money? Are they in it for the benefits or the favors an elected official can give and receive? To enrich their family and friends?
When this country struck out on its own and ditched British rule, there was an idea that those who had advantages – like wealth and education – had an obligation to help others gain those advantages. They were obligated to serve the public interest, the public good. It wasn’t supposed to be lifetime job. You took time off from your real job – farming or fishing or lawyering – and did a stint at public service, then passed it off to the next guy and returned to your real job.
I’m not saying we should return to that way of doing things. Some in public office are fulfilling their God-given calling to serve. They should serve if they can get elected.
There is an adage in journalism – follow the money. A long time ago, John Kennedy said ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. When those two ideas are at cross purposes, when someone is seeking election just to enrich themselves, their friends and families and service comes second, it’s time to look at another candidate. Hopefully, there is someone in each race who is serving to serve, to make things better for those who they serve, someone who isn’t just looking for a paycheck and insurance.