A recent NPR article compared politics to a sorority. In the past, I have referred to it as high school ... but there is a critical player missing in both scenarios ... You, me, the public ... where do we fit in this sorority or high school drama?
I believe we fill the role of parent, a role that goes back to pre-politics. You see people aren’t born politicians. I would suggest that most begin their political careers because they care about their local community and want to contribute towards making it better ... just like you and I.
Like young children, these young politicians want to serve and please their parents (the public). Parents of young children realize the need to be very attentive to every detail. They provide constant feedback and loving correction, all with purposeful intention of developing a solid foundation to grow from.
Enter elementary school age. I would say 2-4 years into political life for a politician. Children this age are exploring their independence and developing their identity. Parents must still be aware of every detail but must now resort to threats more than they may like in order to continue developing their child into a responsible, caring and contributing individual.
I think most parents would agree that junior and senior high are hell ... for everyone involved. Friends and societal status begin to matter more than parents. It matters zilch that parents are still the ones providing everything ... and parents still must work even harder to stay aware of what is going on in that child’s world.
The hope that parents hold is that the hard work and effort of being engaged, even when facing efforts to thwart this engagement, will prove worth it when their child becomes an adult and is able to reach their maximum potential.
As a “parent,” how are you doing in staying aware of the issues in your community? How are you doing at checking in with your “children” to let them know that you are paying attention?
How are you at giving feedback to help guide and grow our politicians into solid, responsive public servants? How are you doing at providing reminders that it is us the public that really matter and not any one special group ... no matter how popular they may seem?
We all have a role to play in making our community better ... Stay on top of the issues ... Find ways to contribute, provide feedback and guidance ...
It’s our job as “parents” to be engaged ... otherwise we have no one to blame but ourselves ...
~ Z
Hey now – as a SDSU sorority girl I resent the comparison! LOL. But I get ya – though I often thought politics was more like middle school but with money and power - but maybe that’s too cynical.
Because I’ve been there, seen it and felt it .... I know politics is an emotional sport but also one of those thankless jobs. So while I agree that all must get involved to share and work with our electeds – I think we also need to look at HOW we do it.
We just saw in the elections, many campaigns running on the platform that current leaders suck. “Get ‘em out. We’ll do better.” But isn’t that the platform every year no matter the party? So we as voters, back our candidate. Within a few months, the honeymoon is over and the candidate becomes our ‘politician’. The rhetoric out there is not nice these days. Forget the issues – attacks are personal. So, we have created the distasteful part of politics too.
What I experienced was two parts to the job: policymaker and politician. You need both.
Policymakers hear all sides to make the best and often hard decisions for the benefit of the community. Someone is bound to get upset about the decision. Mix in misunderstood, incorrect or fabricated information and you can have a cocktail of fierceness on either side that can overshadow the actual issue.
Politicians have supporters who elected them into office. They need supporters to stay in office. And sometimes the policy needed may not be what certain supporters want.
Heck then why would anyone want this job? Because we need good people to leave a better tomorrow.
So yes, if we want to raise effective ‘politicians’ we need to do our part to get involved and share our needs so the best decision can be made. The other part is to keep check on how we behave when we don’t get what we want. And it’s not about being thick skinned, it’s about making “getting involved” more appealing. We want more people to share their ideas and we want more good people from the community to run for office.
If our electeds keep having to deal more with the politics than with the policy – moving forward will be slower and slower.
~ Patty
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