One of the most important positions of engagement in our democratic electoral form of representative government is in the field of public service, for without this, we would likely fail as a great and interdependent republic.
To enter the noble career of public service, one must embody the desire and utmost willingness truly and unalterably to serve the public.
With this service, often comes a certain degree of political and personal power not always, or even often, accorded to persons working within private spheres. This power, whether public visibility and status or heightened influence in the political policy decision-making process, cannot and must not arise or be motivated primarily by personal aggrandizement.
Power demands responsibility, a duty to follow at least fundamental standards of ethical conduct. It demands a true representation of constituents’ needs and requirements in their best interests. And it demands genuine leadership of our leaders in bringing people from disparate and often contradictory vantage positions together to solve problems and conflicts for the many and not simply the privileged few.
Serving the public demands a delicate combination of cooperation, negotiation, and compromise, without compromising the essential attributes of self-respect, dignity, and integrity. And while attempting to serve the public often leaves one open to direct and scurrilous personal criticism and slanderous insults, and one must invariably develop a tough outer skin, it also demands that one maintains a high level of sensitivity to people’s needs and empathy with their experiences.
And these are merely the basic requirements necessary for public service. The good news is, though, that our country has generally had the great fortune of attracting an essential critical mass of people of good will and dedication to government, even as the flood of self-serving political manipulators and hacks have perennially swept into executive, judicial, and legislative branches – people who advanced to power by preying on public fears and evident and subterranean divisions.
But our democratic electoral system of representative government, in addition, depends upon an educated electorate. It demands responsibility on the part of the electorate to critically examine politicians, so they can make truly informed decisions. It demands of the electorate to determine its genuine needs – self and collective – and not sway to the winds of political self-interests of self-serving snake oil sales representatives.
We the people of the United States stand at yet another historical crossroad. How we engage in the political process – as voters and otherwise – will determine whether we advance as a country and how we will be judged by generations yet to come.
◊♦◊
Photo Credit: Pixabay