I’ve long believed in the nobility of politics and public service.
Yes, they’re related. To attain one measure of public service, one must endure the political rough-and-tumble.
My very first political “hero,” Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, would talk occasionally about politics as being a noble pursuit. RFK imbued in me an interest in the political process just about the time I was coming of age. Then, in aĀ tragic spasm of violence in that Los Angeles hotel kitchen after RFK won theĀ most importantĀ political victory of his career, he was gone.
My love of politics remained.
This election season, I fear, is going to put my political affection to a severe challenge. I’ve noted already in a tweet that this election cycle just might “cure” me of my political addiction … political junkie that I am.
I don’t want to be cured. I want to remain engaged in the political process. I mean, heck man, I studied political science in college and came away from my post-secondary education with a keen interest in the process that elects people who purport to become our leaders.
What can we expect from the next presidential election campaign?
I fear it will be little of anything truly positive.
Already I’ve noted that this election cycle is presenting me with the unhappiest set of choices I can remember. I’ve been able to vote in every presidential election since 1972. I voted with great pride in that election, just a couple of years after being discharged from the U.S. Army.
I was full — if you’ll pardon the pithy language — of piss and vinegar … and I wanted the political process to be full of it, too.
I’m feeling quite a bit different this time around.
The two candidates for the highest office in the land don’t fill me with much joy. In fact, one of them — you know the fellow to whom I referĀ — fills me with dread. The other one? Well, she still has to prove herself.
I’m waiting to be won over yet again. I fear, though, that the Campaign 2016 misery index is going to send us all scampering to the tall grass.
Yes, I’m a political addict.
I hate the idea, though, of being “cured” of the addiction.