Expect Respect
As a young man, I considered going into politics. The closest I came to it was on the sidelines, when I was a political radio correspondent in Washington, D.C. in college.
But instead of stoking inspiration, that short stint solidified my belief that politicians were corrupt, greedy, and phony, and therefore, I turned my back on both politics and reporting on them. It was a moment of reckoning for me, because growing up in a politically active household, I had put a lot of faith in “the system” and elected officials.
A few years later, when I moved to California, I rebelled from my family’s Democratic affiliation and changed my voter registration to Independent, and voted with both my heart and my head in subsequent elections. For many years, I was the quintessential swing voter in both gubenetorial and federal elections, casting my ballot for Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Libertarians alike.
This approach afforded the opportunity to sample different political ideologies, while developing a very important tool:a Bullshit Detector.
And so here we are again, weeks away from exercising our franchise to offer the job to the most qualified candidate. As voters, we must expect the candidate to both earn and keep our respect for the job that we, the voters, gave them. And when they become the elected official, we must expect that same respect from them.
I hope and pray your Bullshit Detector is turned way up, and that when you walk into that booth, or fill out your ballot at home, you are sniffing for the truth. Truth for our people, truth for our country. Protecting that truth is all that we have left.