The F-word was in the front-page headline again Thursday, as an elected official pledged to fight. It wasn’t even something anyone would fight about — she wanted to fight over having more manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin. Talk about shadow boxing.
I for one am weary of politicians who promise to fight. Most humans want the same thing — a measure of safety and comfort, food and shelter, privacy and freedom, a helping hand to and from neighbors when it’s needed, and to raise their kids in the ways they should go.
Politicians like to pretend we need to fight about it and that it all would be much easier if we’d just vote them into office or vote to keep them there. But government is a blunt-force instrument that gets in the way most of the time. If it’s not seizing the fruits of people’s labor to fight for wasteful, inefficient programs that do the work we could do better on our own, then it’s sending our children overseas to die in someone else’s fight.
I lost a good friend earlier this year who never voted and lived a good life. His philosophy was more or less that it’s not wise to vote for politicians because it only encourages them, and there are few things in life more dangerous than an encouraged politician.
My own epiphany came when I was framing a newspaper column on the theme that our well-being does not depend on our choosing the right ruler. I suddenly realized that oh yes, it does: My well-being depends on my recognizing that I am the boss of me and that I’d better rule my own business as best as I can.
There’s a pivotal moment in the movie Serenity — which concludes the mighty TV saga Firefly — when hero Malcolm Reynolds squares off against a nameless government operative.
“I have to hope you understand, you can’t beat us,” the operative says.
“I got no need to beat you, I just want to go my way,” Reynolds replies.
There’s no need to fight. This world is big enough for all of us to go our way. Let’s just try to be good neighbors.
