Looking for political fidelity

© 2007 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.

Last week I stirred a number of readers when I made fun of presidential candidates and possible drug use that allows them to campaign 20 hours a day. It was repeated to me that I did not give the proper respect since one of them will be elected president.

I wonder why this society so reveres politicians, actors and musicians. While painting with a wide brush, politicians, actors and musicians tend to be mostly style with little substance. There are exceptions. Would those three exceptions please stand up?

With politicians there is not much fidelity – that is, loyalty and attentiveness to one’s duty – unless we allow their own needs to be their duty. Politicians speak of serving us, but they constantly work for us to serve them.

Most are functionally useless in the real world. When the toilet is overflowing, I am interested in who can fix it. The good life ends when the porcelain convenience puts human waste on the floor. Those who fix real problems stand a whole lot taller than politicians, who mainly try to fix problems they created in the first place.

We watch hours and hours of presidential candidates essentially doing nothing other than asking for money and repeating what their handlers tell them to say. The real heroes of our society, meanwhile, are rarely acknowledged even though they solve our problems while risking life and limb at less than star-quality wages so our lives roll easily. We see them, and yet we do not see them.

New Mexico ranchers and farmers, for example, make sure that, when you order a meal, the diner has something to sell. They do not get rich, and some people make discourteous comments about their provincial garb. Life for many of them is a hard old dog and then they die. Still, some of them are my good friends. Better friends you could not find.

I know this: If people had to go fetch their own food, we would not have an obesity problem. We do not think of this because we do not have to, since our ranchers and farmers are so dependable.

Truckers drive at all hours of the day and night to convey the goods on store shelves. Their job has plenty of danger, as do many more.

On the Discovery Channel is a series, The Deadliest Catch. I got the first season in a boxed DVD set. Like everyone else, I now have a new respect for crab on the menu.

We would not have seen this except that series producer Thom Beers, nine years ago, filmed the crab process. He commented, “When I came off the boat after 11 days, I felt like I had spit in the eye of the devil and walked away from it.”

I hope someone else decides to concentrate on other high-risk jobs that we take for granted. I will not list them because I am afraid I would forget one or a dozen. They all deserve our respect and gratitude.

Politicians start wars, others die in war

While some politicians give lip service to the military, it is the politicians who start the wars, but at some point some 20-year-old has to kick a door down and go in blazing. The politician risks losing prestige while the people serving in the military risk injury or death.

It has always been this way. Only today, the military has to fight the enemy along with many American politicians who do things harmful to the safety of our military personnel. Additionally, our soldiers have to put up with a media that is calculatingly against them. The media shows the negatives while concealing the positives of our military’s actions. My friend Charlie ends his e-mails, “America is not at war, the military is at war. America is at the mall. Congress is out of touch. We voted change in 2006, vote for change in 2008!”

Many young people have never done any of the gritty, slimy, odorous work that keeps our society going. They live privileged lives without realizing how really fortunate they are. George Orwell said, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

While only half of the people bother to vote, everyone benefits from the work of farmers and ranchers and those in many other unglamorous professions. We need to hold them in our prayers every day.

I have the utmost respect for leadership doing the right thing at the right time in the right way regardless of opposition. However, these presidential candidates do not give me any hope they will serve with fidelity. Rather, they will continue to sway with every passing breeze, as they do now on the campaign trail. Whether I like what they stand for or not, I respect those who do not sway.

Let us spend our time and attention celebrating our real heroes and ignoring the egomaniacs running for president. When we do vote, we should vote for the least swaying politician. Maybe we can even elect a plumber for president. It sure works for me.

Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.