Politics: mean, nasty, and destructive… and that’s just on the surface

I talked with a wise woman recently, who said something like this:

“We ask good people to run for elective office, and when they do we revile and criticize them.”

I was reminded of this when reading Winners and Losers in Willamette Week today. Under “Winners”:

“Betting that the first pig to the trough gets the most slop, state Rep. Greg MacPherson (D-Lake Oswego) became the first candidate to jump in the state attorney general race—just one day after Attorney General Hardy Myers announced he won’t run in 2008.”

“Betting that the first pig to the trough gets the most slop”. Way to elevate the debate and make people want to step up to public service, Willamette Week.

The comments last week on Jack Bog’s blog about State Representative Greg Macpherson’s announcement that he is running for Oregon Attorney General didn’t start out much better, although eventually some thoughtful people posted remarks about policies/skills/achievements. I suppose I should be grateful many of those comments focus on Greg’s hair, clothes, and demographics, the way they tend to do when the subject is a female politician – at least that shows equal-opportunity superficiality. But why is this the norm?

In politics, verbal abuse rules, and as much or more from electors and journalists as from candidates.

While there are good reasons to be cynical, and some people participate in politics for personal gain and long-term careers, others are motivated by seeking the long term public good. There seems little recognition in campaigns or our society in general that if someone disagrees with or dislikes a candidate, that doesn’t necessarily make that man or woman a bad person with evil intent.

I believe each one of us affects our political governance system. Many people affect it by not participating, not caring, not paying attention, not speaking up when they do care about something. At the other end of the spectrum, others manipulate it for their own ends, making it their private club whose purpose is almost solely to provide benefits to elite members. In between those extremes, there are a lot of people – candidates as well as electors – who believe in The Right Thing as they conceive it, and participate to make a difference towards that end. And a bunch who seem to engage mostly because politics provides a forum where participants are allowed or even encouraged to be meaner and nastier than would ever be tolerated in most social or work situations. I think Greg Macpherson will make an excellent Attorney General, and I thank him for being willing to put himself and his family through the assault of campaigning in order to provide service in that office.

Journalists (whether print, TV, radio, or Internet-based) have particular ability to frame the debates and affect the climate for political participation by both candidates and electors. Willamette Week, it may be hip to refer to someone offering themselves up for public scrutiny as a candidate for election as a “pig to the trough”. But it doesn’t help decent people want to volunteer to run, and it certainly doesn’t encourage voters to want to participate in our electoral system. Except if they enjoy blood sports.