Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Trying times

Sometimes we get in our own way.

I learned this recently in a very personal lesson but I believe that, at times, we also reveal ourselves a little too openly for public consumption. These public meltdowns have two outcomes: people see us electeds for the true selves we are or we electeds suffer for our honesty.

I would like to think that the honesty is respected and that people feel a bit of kinship with us, especially because, after all, we are still the same people we were before we were elected to represent your interests. We try, we strive, we work for very little pay and much criticism because we want to support a community that we believe in. But the fact is, most of us go home questioning ourselves and the decisions we make.

The fact that we question ourselves and that we talk with our partners after dinner or at lunch or whenever we have a spare moment to share shows that we care. While we don't always agree, we do all believe.

We, those you have elected, all believe that we have this community's best interests in mind. Sometimes, we elect people with a single issue who have persuaded us that they will represent us but they only represent their own special interests. Thankfully that person rarely lasts in a community that is paying attention to the folks representing them.

Here in Whatcom County we elect our neighbors and friends to represent our interests. We ask those people, myself included, to take care and steward our public assets . Sometime we choose well, sometimes, not so much. But, this I will tell you from personal experience - I am still the same guy I was before.

What I believe to be a true measure of the people we ask to represent us isn't the quality of their listening skills or their commiseration with our positions or issues, rather it is the authenticity of their actions. Do they do what they say they will do or do they bust their asses to at least try?

Too often, our electeds are constrained by the body politic. While they may try to achieve results for their constituents, they are stopped or marginalized by others queuing in line before them. Since when to ideas get queued? Yeah......since we all bought into a ridiculous two party system more interested in reelections than good ideas, that's when we started to queue ideas.

So this post isn't really about any specific issue. Rather, it is about an attempt to ask all of you whether you vote or not, whether you pass on your views or not, or if you just silently follow the process that you remember the men and women you elect are not above or better, they are not some separate entity, they have not gained some special power beyond an improved experience and thus a little more insight to the process.

They, we, me....we are your neighbors and, as much as we can be, we are your voice. Please remember that we have the same struggles, the same relationships, the same lives as you. And that while we live the same lives as you, sometimes, when we get it just right, we manage to steer our governments in exactly the best direction.