The Hunt for Next November
By Peter Block
--April
in the state of Missouri is turkey-hunting season. It is an annual
spring ritual that for many is extremely satisfying. It lasts two weeks
and there is a limit of one turkey a week. Turkeys are not easy to hunt.
They have great eyesight, great hearing and they are smart. If you are
willing to get up at 5:30 in the morning, sit perfectly still for an hour,
dress like a tree and make sounds like a lovesick female turkey, you
might get lucky and attract a handsome male named Tom or Jake. Whether
you shoot it or just take pleasure in its company is up to you. For some
reason the experience, despite its discomforts, is spiritually renewing
and leaves you a little more optimistic about life.
--There is another hunting ritual that
arrives only once every four years and that is the campaign for
President. For some reason it is much less satisfying. The candidates,
John, George, Al and Bill, are also male and reasonably attractive,
sincere, committed and hardworking. They are worthy of our admiration in
that they are willing to endure the hardships of public life to serve
their country. Plus the campaign and the eventual Presidential election
is an essential cornerstone of a democratic society. Why does this
pursuit leave us spiritually drained and a little more pessimistic about
life?
--Why, in contrast to a cold April
morning in the woods, is it so hard to sit still in the comfort of our
own home and pay attention. When I watch the candidates I begin to think
I suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. I would like to know who these
candidates are, but they seem more like a product than a person. Part of
the problem is that this culture turns everything into a commercial.
Public service has turned into a marketing challenge and the products
become numbing, especially after you have watched them for the third
time.
Stump Speech
The candidates have one speech that they adapt from state to state all
designed to fit the audience they are talking to. Winning seems to
require that they tell us what we want to hear and do it in sound bites.
This is a case where customer focus may be a disservice. If they are so
intent on telling us what we want to hear, how then, will we know what
we are getting?
--
--I recently heard James Carville, master campaign strategist,
author of "It's the economy, Stupid," share the secrets of his success.
He made two points: The first was to pick a simple, easy to understand
message that will sell, and repeat that message forever. No matter what
question you are asked, give the same answer. As a candidate, you can
have an opinion on everything, just don't render it. Interesting stance.
It is the ultimate marketing strategy.
--His second point was that most of
his advice is stopping candidates from doing something stupid. Like
going on TV when you are tired, expressing doubt or ambivalence or
wasting time with people that are not going to vote for you anyway. He
is a spokesman for the belief that the single purpose of running for
office is to get elected, and we all seem to accept this. When public
service becomes a matter of money, marketing and spin, no wonder we
question whose interest is being served.
The Evils of
Government
It is also interesting that it is not just citizens that have lost faith
in their government, it is also the candidates. They mostly seem to be
running against government. Despite the fact they have been in politics
much of their lives, they want us to believe they are outsiders. That
they can reform the world they helped create. They are pursuing an
office that they define as the problem. Why have we let government,
especially our system of supposed self-government, become such a target.
What has happened to the nobility of public service?
What's In It for Me?
What is disturbing about the election process is that the dominant,
underlying belief is that we are all engaged in the pursuit of
self-interest and that is our essential nature. Self-interest finds
fullest expression in the campaign promise. If campaign promises, aimed
at our supposed special interests, are the currency of the election
process, it is you and I that have become the consumer.
--If we would care more about the
common good, elected officials would not have to be in the business of
promising what is undeliverable. If we really cared about the problems
of poverty, wellness, family values, peace and the environment, we would
have a positive view of government and view them as simply a minor
player in these concerns. We have the capacity to solve each of these
challenges in our own community, but we don't.
--If our current way of campaigning
works, then it is on us that it is working. If we blame elected
officials for pursuing self-interest, at the expense of public interest,
then we have to accept that they are simply a reflection of who we have
become.
--What has gotten twisted is the
general belief that an election campaign is a search for better
leadership. The common good would be better served if we viewed election
season as a search for better citizenship.
Finding the Citizen Within
Citizenship will be renewed when we use this time of year to remember
that:
--1. Our disappointment in leaders is
simply a reflection of the way we have demanded something from them that
cannot be delivered. How blind have we become when we vote for promises
that we know are un-fulfillable? Can our precious vote be purchased by a
$400 a year tax break, or the illusion that the government's job is to
make my neighborhood safe, educate my children, find a job for my
neighbor or heal the wounds of my family? We must be willing to stop
purchasing promises that we know have no substance. The moment we are
ready to hear the truth about ourselves and personally be responsible
for what we care about, our leaders will stop making false promises.
2.
If we seek great leadership, why don't we become a candidate? If we were
willing to run for office and commit ourselves to public service instead
of self-service, we would understand the complexity of serving the
common good and our complaints about government and politicians would
gradually fade. When we decide governance is a noble calling and worthy
of our own sacrifice, we will value the service we do receive. Public
ills such as campaign financing, special interests lobbying power,
chronically depressed urban areas and deteriorating health coverage will
disappear when we confront the fact that it is our own personal
self-interest and materialism that stands in the way of their solution.
--When we rediscover that we are, at
heart, citizens and not consumers, we will see our better selves, our
diversity, our willingness to act on the common good reflected in those
we elect.
--Public service is the task of each
of us. It means we become willing to yield our local benefit for the
sake of needs outside our own boundaries. Public office will become less
purchasable and those who are human beings first and marketing masters
second will reclaim leadership roles. The poor and middle class will be
able to afford to run for public office, take stances that are born of
conviction instead of focus groups and campaign by confronting citizens
with their role in solutions.
--Then we might find election time a
reaffirmation of the democratic experience. Something more akin to the
joys of hunting turkeys instead of identifying with them.
This
article appeared in
News for a Change published by AQP in March 2000
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