Politics are confusing. The people who run for office and, ultimately, run the government, are mostly lawyers and rich people who use the system to advance their own agendas and stay in office. You have to have money to get into politics, or you have to have the backing of people who do. People who give you money have influence with you. Nobody gets into office by themselves. Everybody wants something. Some people want noble things like fair laws, equitable taxation, dependable care for the old, sick and poor. Some people simply want more power. Some people want a mixture of both of these things. It’s our job, as voters, to weed out the last two from the first group and put them in office. It’s getting radically harder to find out who is which group. It’s tough finding an honest person running for office. They’re as rare as hen’s teeth.
I came of age, as a voter, just in time to vote for Ronald Reagan. Our fortieth president was running for re-election against Walter Mondale in 1984 and I helped him do it. I was nineteen years old, those forty years ago. In their debate, which I might add was a very civil and respectful discussion between two men that knew how to speak to one another without hate or hostility while disagreeing whole heartedly,
The mediator asked Reagan if, as the oldest president to date, would he be able to handle the rigors of the life of president. Reagan made a joke of it and said that he wouldn’t make age an issue. He wouldn’t exploit his opponent’s youth and inexperience. Mondale was fifty-six at the time. Reagan was seventy-three. Reagan quoted Seneca (or Cicero, he wasn’t sure which) in paraphrase:
“If it were not for the Elders correcting the mistakes of the young, there would be no state”
Mondale, coincidentally, was Jimmy Carter’s vice-president and had chosen a woman running mate, Geraldine Ferraro. They made history with her candidacy, but didn’t win. It took the country a long time until we could bring ourselves to vote for women, and people of all races, to run our government. We got here, though. We’ve also found that, despite being more open to equity in our candidates, they still all fall into those same three categories I mentioned. Those who want to do good, those who want power, and those who want some (or all) of both. Maybe we’re not as advanced as we’d like to think. We still need people who are adults (aged or not) to correct our mistakes.
I’m a Baptist, but the Catholic Pope Francis summed up this election pretty well this week. The Jesuit turned Pope has a tendency to speak his truth plainly, a trait I love and respect. He was asked his advice to Catholic voters in the November U.S. presidential election. He said they must choose the “lesser of two evils” because “both are against life”. He referred to Kamala Harris on her support for abortion rights, and Donald Trump for closing the door to immigrants.
“Sending migrants away, not allowing them to grow, not letting them have life is something wrong; it is cruelty,” he said.
“Sending a child away from the womb of the mother is murder because there is life. And we must speak clearly about these things.” he also said.
He finished with “One must vote. And one must choose the lesser evil. Which is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know. Each person must think and decide according to his or her own conscience.”
Well said.
If you think I’m still confused about politics, you’d be right. I want to vote for someone who has the people of this nation at the top of their priorities. An honest person, who humbles themselves to do the right thing, who will be strong for the country, fair to our neighbors, and not a bully. A person of competency, without a huge ego, and will not pander to the far left, or the far right. A person who won’t use the military as the world’s police force, but will protect its people. A person who would give their life for the people, and not throw the people away to get what they want. Just one good person.
I wish Jesus would run for office.
God Bless Y’all.
Rolling Stones 