They look good, and may smell good. Their responses are measured and clearly rehearsed. If they encounter a question or a situation that may reflect poorly on their airs of competence, they ignore it and provide an unrelated answer to an unasked question. They are experts when “working the room.” Saying “hello” and “howdy” to every person in attendance as the young aide whispers names and political standings into their ears, they move about with freshly-starched shirts, glimmering cufflinks, nattily-knotted silk tie and a high-quality suit. And the smile…always the smile…except for those theatrical moments that demand a pensive or thoughtful demeanor. Even when they curse, it is done deliberately for dramatic effect. Their words seem full of insider’s knowledge, and their definitive pronouncements spring from the well of certitude. They are the career politicians…the class of Americans who have lusted for position and power since they watched their first presidential news event.
In their finely-manicured hands they hold our lives and our futures. Their eager young twenty-something staffers fill them with talking points and highlights about major legislative initiatives. Their overworked office bees cannot follow every piece of legislative action, however, and they frequently must vote on issues about which they know little. They turn to their colleagues for guidance as they cast their votes that affect millions in the nation and hundreds of thousands in their home districts. They do it all with confidence and the self-assured knowledge that they are more capable and wise than are the common folk who are their constituents. They are our nation’s elite leaders….the career politicians.
Rarely have they toiled in the lowly world of commerce or served in the ranks of the common laborer. Few of them have driven cabs, cultivated fields or cooked breakfast for a hundred patrons. Many are attorneys who have diligently studied to find the flaws in the typical contracts and agreements that others try to implement. Their arduous schooling fails them when examining the legislative monstrosities that their peers promote. The massive bills slide through the process…flawed and unworkable…left for the bureaucracy to interpret and enforce as it sees fit. Even if they are the best and brightest our country has to offer, they cannot do it all. There will be gaffes, mistakes, errors, foul-ups, but they are the chosen ones…the career politicians….born to lead, bred to rule, expected to be re-elected time and again until they choose to draw their generous taxpayer-financed retirement.
They spread their promises like soft butter as their practiced facial expressions of sincerity underscore the solemnity of their pledges. Their commitments to be champions of prosperity for all and fairness for the aggrieved ring loudly. Speaking of justice and government concern, they announce that they will assault the marbled halls until their constituents can reap “their fair share.” They resemble every super-hero in the battle for rights and plunder, and they tell us that they (and we) will prevail. “Send me back, and I’ll bring it back to you,” they so earnestly vow. They are career politicians, and for them some vows have no meaning.
Some vows are meant for speaking. Few are meant for keeping.
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
or
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
These are meant for keeping, but few do so. It’s time that “we the people” insist that these vows be kept…even by the career politicians. It must be duty first and foremost… now and forever.
