Next week, we go to the polls in these United States.
May I remind everyone that all politicians are alike in some foundational ways?
It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, or, here in Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes and Ron Johnson, or Tony Evers and Tim Michels. All politicians, all of them, share 2 characteristics.
Every politician possesses a sense of Arrogance and Sycophancy:
— Arrogance: I’m smart enough to rule people.
— Sycophancy: Please vote for me!
Lord Acton was right; power tends to corrupt.1 A less-remembered quote is just as relevant: “Great men are almost always bad men.”
Politics is necessary. Indeed, in a democratic republic such as ours, it is a requirement.
However, we citizens should be under no illusions: the people for whom we vote all share some very unattractive personality characteristics.
At base, to some degree, all politicians possess hubris and obsequiousness. Arrogant and craven all, they smile while we hand them our votes and our money.
Remembering that our politicians share much in common should also remind us that, despite all OUR differences, we citizens share much in common as well.
I have just argued that we should, to a certain degree, hold all politicians in contempt.
I likewise now posit that we should hold all of our fellow citizens in esteem.
Certainly, we can choose to focus on the negatives we all possess, as I’ve done above regarding politicians, and tribalize and despise each other, descending to the level of the poo-flinging apes from whom some of us believe we evolved. Thus aligned, we would serve the interests of politicians.
Or, we can choose to focus on the positives we all possess.
Acknowledging our political authority and responsibilities, traits we citizens share, we can act like adults.
We can thus decide that we owe each other our mutual respect, if for no other reason than we are all in this together, and one tends to learn the most from those with whom one disagrees. However, we need to talk with each other, especially those with whom we are in greatest disagreement. In the marketplace of ideas,2 communication is key.
After all, how do we know we really hate each other if we aren’t even talking with each other?
Now, choose among the least objectionable of this political lot, My Fellow Citizens. Talk, and vote.
Politicians make politics a blood sport. Citizens can make politics a fellowship.