As I write this post the good folk of Iowa are gathering for caucus meetings all across the state. After months and months of being wooed they will finally cast their votes for one or another of the potential candidates for president. And then the attention (and media dollars) will shift to New Hampshire. By all accounts it has been a rather brutal campaign, with negative advertisements blanketing the airwaves.
I saw a piece on the op/ed pages of the local Fort Myers News-Press that summed up my feelings as well as anything I've read. It was written by Dan Warner, a retired editor who once won the Pulitzer. In the essay, Warner noted that their are two myths about politics that need debunking. First, the idea that, in his words, "all of the candidates are unqualified and unworthy." All too often we buy into the notion that politician is a four-letter word (it's not--it's actually a ten-letter word) and that all persons who run for office are by definition useless. Instead of such a negative approach, he suggest we honestly assess candidates looking intentionally for their positive attributes. Bravo, I say! If we keep emphazing the negative the day might come when it all becomes a self-fulfilling promise.
The second myth, he notes, is that, again his words, "there is one answer." Somehow, we have become so polarized as a society that we easily buy into the idea that there is only one way to resolve a problem: my way. I love Frank Sinatra--but my way is a lousy way to move through public life! Instead, we need to recognize that compromise can be very noble. And often, it is the only way to move forward!
Near the end of his essay, Warner writes: "The answer [to political gridlock] is not in the noise and slogans. It is in reasonable thought generated by reasonble leaders. And that means we must be reasonable followers." When I read that aloud to my wife she said, "There's a sermon in that!" And so there is! But for now, it will have to stand as this post on my blog.
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