It's Time to Get Involved!

    I've been talking to people over the last two years or so about getting more involved in the local, state, and federal governments.  There has been a decent-sized wave of change, at least in Indiana, to educate and get into the mix.  Most of this is on the local level and that, frankly, is where change needs to start.  When Ronald Reagan was president Democrat Tip O'Neill was in Congress and I'll never forget his quote.  It's stayed with me for around 40-plus years.  He said, 'All politics is local.'  Why is this statement so important that I have remembered it all these years?  Because it's spot on.

     Let's come back to that in a few paragraphs.  First, let's look at the way our country has devolved over the same last 40 years.  We used to vote people into office because we trusted them.  Some, if not the majority of our office holders, have violated that trust thinking we work for them instead of them working for us.  Now we vote people in because they are the least of the two evils.  I literally held my nose when voting for president four or five elections ago.  I had two choices.  Democrat and Democrat Lite.  Why do we have unsavory people running for office?  We have liars, immoral leaders, cheats, snakes, and so on.  Now don't get me wrong, they are not all that way, but still, we don't seem to have enough that rise to the top to be noticed.  And these people are on all of the three levels of government that I mentioned above.  We simply don't have enough good people running for office.  But why?

     Let's look at our recent history.  We've been told over and over that we should not discuss politics in church or family get-togethers.  If this theory is adhered to, and it has been, how are people supposed to learn?  And when I say 'people' I mean the younger population.  That group has been left out of the learning process from the very people, parents, and other trusted people in their lives, that should be teaching them.  What happens next?  As the old saying goes: 'If you don't teach your kids someone else will'.  Do you seriously want teachers and professors teaching your children about politics when you probably don't agree or share their beliefs?  We've surrendered those teachings and the teachings of our religion, too.  It's gotten to a point that the word 'politics' has taken on the same negativity that the word 'power' had 10 or 20 years ago.  

     The word politics to some is a dirty word.  They use the word to mean way more than the context of government work.  Don't get me wrong, there is politics everywhere.  It's in our schools, sports, workplaces, and just everywhere else.  When you are in one of these settings and politics hits you in the face it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  Situations in these areas, because of politics, become based on personal desires and wants and not on fairness.  When people's pride and ego get in the way of fairness bad things happen to good people.  To me, a justice guy, there's nothing worse than this.  This kind of behavior is exposed to everyone.  So, when this happens in schools, sports, and the workplace, why wouldn't the word 'politics' have such a negative response from just about everyone?  Then you have a person like me or someone else trying to change things for the better come along and talk to the same people who have been treated poorly because of internal politics about making a solid difference and what do you think their response is going to be?  Thinking back in recent memory to a situation where they got screwed over and they immediately start shaking their heads and expressing how badly they don't want to be involved.  Or, as my son has said numerous times, 'I hate politics'.

     I realize that there are politics in everything, every day.  You're never going to get rid of it as long as there are self-centered people and pride and egos are in play.  But let's look at the other politics.  Let's look at government and the political efforts that one must make to get involved in government.  To get a position in government a person must run in some form or fashion either in an election or to be appointed by some authority.  In the strict sense of the word and its definition, yes, these people are politicians.  And that's pretty much where it ends.  People are all the time applying for jobs in the world and that is exactly what is happening here.  A person is asking the voter to 'hire' them for an elected position.  Once that person is elected or hired in by the voters then he or she starts working for the public.  They also are trying to convince others that their position on topics is good and possibly better than what has been tried.  Better ideas.  There are good and bad people in government like anywhere else.  But they are not all bad and the process is not all bad.  The only reason it as bad as it is right now is, in my belief, because we are not getting good and decent people to run for office.  We have a ton of people out there, good people, moral people, with great ideas who will not run because 'they hate politics'.  When good people don't run for office we end up with what we currently have right now.

     Could it be that good people don't want to run because of all the dirty politics that go on from the people in power trying to protect their power and position?  Indeed it is, and we need to be strong enough and courageous enough to overcome all that to do what is right.  I've lived that experience and I can tell you it's very true and not much fun.  I've stuck my neck out for a seat twice and it has happened to me.  I was accused of committing a felony on election day and other such lies by people in charge, so they could watch out for their own self-centered interests for themselves and their family members.  This is just some of the stuff good people who run for office have to put up with.  I know it from experience and I know changes have to be made.  I have been talking to people about stepping up during this time of obvious change.  There is a current movement.  We are the people we have been waiting on to make these changes.  It's time to pull up our boots, get excited, and put our necks out there to make positive changes.  No one else will do it.  And if we don't we are only going to have the same bad people running for positions.  There are way more of us than there are of them.  We need to stand up, work with other like-minded, moral people, and get involved so we can make things better.  It won't be easy and it will take time, but no one else will do this for us.  Like I said, I've been talking to people both here and in other counties about stepping up and running for different offices.  It's time.  We can do this and turn our cities, towns, counties, state, and country around.  

     You can participate without running for office.  At the very least find out what is out there and sit on a board, get appointed to something that interests you, or find something that you would like to run for election.  Get involved today!  We can do this!