Able Leadership Valuable, Valued
The most crucial moment in representative democracy is almost upon us. No, not election day. Filing week. At the end of this month, candidates will sign up to run for the jobs that make democracy work - or not work, as the case may be.
So here’s a plea to the talented, civic-minded residents of our region: If you have the skills, the interest, the patience, the courage, the intelligence, the devotion to community - it’s an impressive list, isn’t it? - we hope you run.
The voters will thank you, come election day, for giving them a choice. The community should thank you, and oftentimes it will. The community will thank you not only with campaign contributions and applause at chicken-dinner speeches. Individual members of the public will thank you, in person, day after day, for the countless unheralded acts of public service and leadership that office holders perform. Thanks for locking up that burglar. Thanks for getting that road paved. Thanks for amending that obnoxious regulation.
Finally, your own conscience will reward you with a unique kind of satisfaction: As the years of service go by, should you win election to public office, you may be able to see your community change, in good ways, and you will know that you had a hand in the changes.
Of course, for at least three reasons, there is a dark side to politics. First, it’s important and people disagree about important things. Second, it’s challenging. Third, not enough of our society’s best and brightest choose to file for public office.
All who follow politics remember races featuring mediocre candidates, unqualified candidates, candidates who padded their resumes, and the occasional, certifiable nuts.
When gifted, experienced people shy away from politics for fear of being associated with its bad apples or its controversy, these problems just get worse.
Our communities stand in constant need of competence, common sense and integrity in important jobs like prosecuting attorney, assessor, judge, legislator, county commissioner.
What happens, for example, if a county’s best trial lawyers all shy away from the prosecutor’s job? Or if qualified appraisers and financial managers shy away from the assessor’s job?
Salaries for these positions are respectable, though not lucrative. More than money is at stake, however. Our communities are at stake. For all of the criticism they necessarily attract, public servants perform a vital service, and we need good ones.