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No doubt your television or radio have been running a ton
of political commercials, and we had several of the recorded
phone calls too. I'm pretty sick of the whole thing, and to be
honest here in Washington state there no longer is a voting
place. You can't go down to vote and get your little sticker
with the American flag on it which said, "I Voted". In our
highly technical region we vote by mail. Everyone gets an
absentee ballot. I miss the little sticker, and I miss the nice
older ladies and gents who ran the voting station. They even
had cookies at our station. JC and I sent our ballots off a
week ago. A bit of sadness 'tho, seems like another little
piece of Americana is gone.
The mail-in ballot is perfect. I'll bet someone has thought of
at least a dozen ways you can screw with that. After the
disaster we had four years ago here in electing a governor,
(they kept finding more boxes of uncounted ballots), it would
take someone of extraordinary backbone to want to run for
an important position in Washington state. That election was
settled, sort of, by the courts. Really gives one a nice secure feeling.
But even if you know the game is rigged, it still takes something
special to attempt to be in 'public service.' I can understand
why someone would not want to run. The way ones past is
dissected and accusations thrown around is enough to make
an ordinary person cringe. Actually I did some cringing myself.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to have that kind of
inspection of ones life. I don't know about you, but I sure
have some skeletons in my personal closet. I haven't run
around with any known communists, but I couldn't pass a
'white glove' test. Who could?
I know there are perks from public service - some of the
retirement packages really are neat, and there are those who
seem to blossom in the limelight. And some actually do more
than a good job for the folks back home. Years ago I had a
problem with the IRS and was getting no where. Out of
desperation I contacted our local representative in Washington
DC. The next time he was in the area I paid a visit to his office.
I was welcomed, treated with proper respect and surprise, my
problem disappeared. That person retired a while back, and I
really haven't contacted our senators or representatives since.
But I know they are there and at least at one time the system
worked.
I suspect the word I've been looking for is courage. It takes
more courage than I have to run for public office. (And besides
I'm too old.) I also suspect it would help if somewhere in ones
youth they made the decision they wanted to be in public office.
It would be easier to prepare for the job than to try and cover
up one's sins later. Funny thing, the good stuff pretty much stays
hidden or bypassed. The sins seem to show up, sort of like trying
to hide a really smelly cheese.
To those who passed the smelly cheese test, and even to those
who will win in this week's elections, congratulations on having
that special courage. ~ LadyFisher
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