Celestial Musings

No, I didn’t watch the Republican National Convention. Or the Democratic one, either, for that matter. And I’ve avoided most of the press about it, too. How can I possibly justify not paying attention to such an important thing as the upcoming presidential election?

Easy. I’m tired of watching grown men and women point fingers and bicker back and forth like a family of four trapped in a car with no air conditioning during a long summer road trip. Plain and simple.

And it’s all the way across the board. On the local, state and national level, there are politicians and there are people.

For the most part, the politicians were once people, then they won an election, their focus shifted from their constituents to their own needs and they became politicians. There are also the natural-born politicians, who may or may not ever even hold public office.

Let me explain.

In this world, there are regular Average Joes who want to participate in the electoral process to make the world a better place. Eventually, their friends and family talk them into running for public office. And they win. And they serve the common man in an admirable and exhaustive fashion. These are the people, not the politicians. A majority of public officials fall into this category.

The people are the ones who spent hours on the phone and in e-mail and snail-mail staying in touch with their constituents to make sure their voters back home are well represented. They are hard-working, decent, wonderful people who have sacrificed their personal and professional lives to fight for the common good.

I like them.

Then, there are the politicians.

Blech, the politicians.

They crawl out of the woodwork every two years or so, pointing their fingers and screaming from mountain tops.

Their diatribes aren’t really based in substance … their words are generally just noise pollution. Mean, hateful noise pollution that could have earned a mouthful of soap back in their youth.

Rather than focus on their own good deeds, politicians scream, hollar and raise general ruckus over the actions of their competitors. In the meantime, they who are the politicians cover up their own misdeeds as best they can and cry fowl when others take issue with them.

This is why I didn’t watch the national conventions. I’m tired of seeing Jane and Tarzan pound their chests while throwing rotting bananas. No, that wasn’t a remark about the Republican presidential ticket, just for the record.

What I would love to see is fewer politicians and more people in public office.

You want me to pay attention to what you’re saying? Stick to the topics that affect my everyday life. Tell me how you’re going to help the working poor improve their situation in life and ensure that everyone has access to decent, affordable health care. While I’m at it, tell me what your plan is to lower gas and food prices and ensure that all children have an actual, equal opportunity to grow up and be successful, well-adjusted adults.

And do it without telling me what a lowdown, rotten, no-good individual your opponent is.

You want me to lend you my ear? I will, when you promise to say something worth listening to.

Celeste Cornish is the editor of the North Kitsap Herald. She can be reached at editor@northkitsapherald.com or (360) 779-4464.