Harlingen, Texas, August 30, 2007:  Forget the political pundits, the national talking heads and a completely failed media.  When it comes to those who fill the ranks of our senior national leadership we have little to choose from. The hallowed halls of the nation’s capitol are filled with nothing but flawed politicos who don’t deserve to head up a local sanitation department, let alone a position of national prestige.

That gaggle of presidential wannabes we are faced with are also not prizes to be coveted.  It is almost like looking at nothing every time one of them stands in public to utter the usual party talking points.  Negative political discourse, stupidity, inaction, corruption and immorality have become the rule, rather than the exception in ole Foggy Bottom.

The crowd that joins me around the water cooler is so disappointed with what they see on television and read in the news publications that the general consensus is nobody now in the race is worth voting for to lead the country.  My own feelings are so negative about the conduct of elected officials that I stopped writing about them back in June.  I even stopped reading political copy, or tuning in to political coverage on radio and television for the past two months.  But, I dialed back in this past week…and guess what?  The odor of our political cesspool hasn’t improved any.  It has gotten worse.

When times are dark…and these are very dark times in America, people look for an Indiana Jones or Lone Ranger to lead them back into the sunshine.  Instead, all we have are imitation Darth Vaders and the Wicked Witch of the West.  Nobody now in office seems to understand that you do not have a United States of America when you constantly wage continuing battles that fracture states, communities and families.  We had a strong example of those hate politics in an event called the Civil War, a conflict where everyone lost.

So, how are the hate campaigns conducted?  Each side does everything possible to ferment distrust of the opposing side.  Does it work?  Perhaps better than the various factions and candidates wish was the case. Most political surveys will agree the public negatively views actions and activities of public officials that stimulate distrust.  The end result of this is mainly public distrust of Congress. In general, the population feels that government is pandered to by a left leaning media, run by a few big interests, wastes tax monies, refuses to pass meaningful legislation in a timely manner and will sacrifice the needs of the general public for personal or party political gamesmanship.  And of course, there is always that old political joke...that you can tell when a politician is lying by looking to see if his or her lips are moving.

Years ago a very wise government professor told me that we can never expect to have our best and brightest people in high political office, because people of integrity will not subject themselves and their families to the gutter politics and personal indignities that must be endured to seek leadership positions.  Those who boast little personal morality or integrity are left to compete…and compete at levels they all understand.  The end result is we end up with a collection of sorry specimens that float on the surface of an ever-deepening political cesspool, until they also sink to the bottom.

Semper Fidelis,
Tom Segel