By Michael Cole

 

One of my favourite books was John Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.

It is interesting to think of the idea that when given a choice between what is right and what is the politically driven choice, that someone would choose to do the right thing. We see so many politicians spinning the damage control, having an aide go out and say, “what the candidate really meant to say is,” or looking right in the camera and blatantly lying to the public.

Or my personal favorite, keeping on it and holding the voting public in such contempt that they feel that the public is too stupid or gullible to remember it or do anything about it.

This, I feel is one of the reasons that our political system is so out of whack.

We have elected officials that feel that winning at all costs is more important than serving the voter. To that end, we have created a world where candidates and elected officials are more concerned with the appearance than the act.

In their eyes, any law can be bent, or at times broken. To them, the end justifies the means. Very rarely does that ever translate in good governance. Usually it is used to justify wrongdoing by the politician.

And we all suffer in the end.

I think that largely, our apathy has emboldened the those in politics to act brazenly.

They cheerfully break laws that would send anyone else to jail.

They hold the system and the people in contempt, laughing the whole time that they act as princes and royalty lording over the little people.

It is not a problem with the Democratic or Republican party; it is not a conservative or liberal thing.

It is the problem of people who use the system to gain power.

They are the real narcissists of the nation. The ones that demand we applaud them as they dismantle our Republic.

But we have choices.

We can shun those candidates that do. We can come together across party and ideological divide and shun those that serve their own interests over that of the people.

We must come together and rid our system of the self serving politician. Whether that person is a candidate for Congress or County Judge.

Our nation has fought a hard and long standing battle with tyrants, no matter if they were foreign or domestic. Our system of government does not give the citizens the luxury of ignoring politics, when we do show apathy, the result is a government that does not serve “We the People.”

So, if our elected officials and candidates will not make the tough choices and do the right thing, it is the duty of the citizens to do the right thing.