| By Larry Keogh, Hamilton | |
| Yikes! If you expect the government to operate like a business then I guess it is no wonder that instead of good, exemplary people we respect and look up to, we elect con men and snake oil salesmen. Elected people are supposed to represent our finest community members!
Government is supposed to be for the good of the people. Business is for the good of a company. Good business people aren’t always good government people. The relationship between business and people is symbiotic; both are needed for either to survive. Businesses need people to buy what they make, and people need what a business creates. If a company or a political party is not making/working for the good of the people, we shouldn’t buy what they are selling. In today’s polarized political climate, I feel that we all need to chuck the idea of “Vote Republican” or “Vote Democrat” as poisonous and embrace the idea of Political Climate Change. How about this idea: instead of “Vote Republican” or “Vote Democrat”, how about adding the line “unless someone else is better qualified and better represents what is best for me, my community, county, state, nation and globe.” Vote for them. If they are better, a vote for them is a vote for yourself. This democratic republic that we live in is messy. We pay attention to and gather input from stakeholders before choosing. There isn’t any “us or them” when it comes to the air we breathe or the water we drink. This world-wide soup that we breathe and drink will either nourish us all or it will poison us all. Digging ourselves deeper into division with planted fears (from elsewhere; where do they get off by thinking they are stakeholders?) that someone is out to get us is bogus. Our past acceptance and acknowledgement of their planted fears hasn’t worked very well. We shouldn’t allow someone else’s fear to dictate our actions. It is well past time to jointly roll up our sleeves and get to work. We need to work together for the common good. It happens all the time. We see evidence of it in places that are working on their recovery from disasters, we see evidence of working together to pull neighbors from flooded homes, from storm shredded buildings, from scorched forest fire debris. We should want to work with all parties toward making this a better world for us to live in. Personally, I am fed up with some character from elsewhere, having absolutely no clue what my life is or what my living consists of, for them to come stomping into my backyard and telling me what will be best for what they represent. Screw that! I have long held that the person best able to look out for my best interests is me. I know what I need. Seldom is it the same need that someone has from elsewhere, their best interests are very seldom my best interests. It is seldom that my best interests have much in common with someone else’s fear. When you vote this time, vote like it matters to you and not someone else. Vote for someone that you can be proud to say “they represent me.” They vote like I would. |
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