Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409210048
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Margie Fisher
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
She probably drives a car or pickup with a ``None Of The Above'' bumper sticker, and has signed petitions demanding an election-law change that would give NOTA (none of the above) an official place on the ballot. Then, if voters are thoroughly disgusted and dismayed with the choice of candidates, they can vote NOTA - effectively ordering a new election with, presumably, a better quality of candidates.
Lucky for Chuck Robb, Ollie North and Marshall Coleman that this movement has not caught on in Virginia. Seems like most of the people I know are wishing they could make the political parties start the nominations process all over again, and get the current U.S. Senate race out of the soup.
But this is not about the Senate race, in which there are understandable reasons why Virginians might prefer NOTA.
It's about anti-politics and anti-politician attitudes that hold sway generally - giving rise to term-limit proposals, low participation in elections, throw-the-bums-out fever that threatens nearly every incumbent officeholder, a pox-on-all-their-houses cynicism that's weakened political-party organizations, and an unhealthy distrust of anyone who aspires to public service.
OK, many politicians richly deserve our contempt. We smile and nod our heads in agreement at wisecracks like:
``Politics is like a Brahman's horn ... a point here ... a point there ... and a lot of bull in between.'' (Ruth Fountain, a former Colorado government official.) And: ``The first thing you do when you want to get elected is to prostitute yourself. You show me a man with courage and conviction and I'll show you a loser.'' (Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds.) And: ``Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on [political office], a rottenness begins in his conduct.'' (Thomas Jefferson.) And: ``Nothing can be said about our politics that hasn't already been said about hemorrhoids.'' (Anonymous.)
But really, folks, this sneering disdain is dangerous. Politics, like it or not, touches nearly everything in our lives, and the future of our country will largely depend on the political leaders we have - at local, state and national levels. If we turn up our noses, refuse to get involved, then we increase the chances that frauds, fools and power-hungry egotists will get control.
Better we heed the words of Harry Truman: ``A man who is not interested in politics is not doing his patriotic duty toward maintaining the Constitution of the United States.'' And nod in agreement with Theodore Roosevelt: ``It is not the man who sits by his fireside reading his evening paper, and saying how bad are politics and politicians, who will ever do anything to save us; it is the man who goes out into the rough hurly-burly of the caucus, the primary, and the political meeting, and there faces his fellows on equal terms.''
What we need is not fewer politicians, but more politicians with intelligence, competence, integrity, decency and courage - that's right: the character issue - plus a genuine desire not only to win elections, but to help solve societal problems once they get into elected office.
The good news is that there are more would-be politicians like that than you might imagine. Some may be your friends and neighbors - people who have good ideas and solutions to offer, but perhaps lack the know-how to organize and run a political campaign, and need help getting started.
Primarily it's for people like this that the Virginia Institute for Political Leadership came into being last year at the University of Virginia. Its goal is to identify individuals who have political-leadership potential, and to provide them with basic campaigning skills: developing a platform, communicating with supporters, dealing with the media, etc.
Of course, the political parties in Virginia also offer schools for neophyte candidates. The bipartisan institute is different in several respects. First, and most importantly, it goes beyond the ends-justify-the-means of winning elections, and guerrilla-warfare training by party operatives whose major interest is gaining or maintaining majority control of local school boards, city councils, boards of supervisors, the state legislature, and on up.
The privately financed institute emphasizes ethical conduct, in both campaigns and in public service. It focuses not only on getting the necessary votes to take a seat on the local school board, city council, etc., but also on public-policy issues that winning candidates must address. In other words, it tries to teach the men and women selected to participate in its training programs not just how to be politicians, but how to be statesmen and stateswomen.
I attended (as an observer) a recent weekend session, held at Virginia Tech by the institute for its second-year class, and was impressed by both the participants and the program. The participants were a mix: Many were folks who have been on the fringes of politics - in a local party organization, as a political appointee, etc. - and a few who already hold lower elected office and have ambitions to move upward.
The program, which hops from university to university on alternating weekends over an 18-week period, features a variety of political scientists, campaign strategists, state legislators and others who've had experience in winning (and losing) elections. The subject matter is lively, topical and on target in terms of the institute's mission: to grow a better quality of political leadership for Virginia.
Idealistic? Sure. But worth the effort if we're to change the status quo where politics is, at best, a vapor of meaningless sound bites; at worst, a negative force that polarizes and works against the common good, rather than inspiring reasonable discourse for meeting challenges. A little more idealism in politics, and perhaps NOTA wouldn't do so well in the polls.
by CNB