ADullAche

My friend lost his bid for city council last night. It was his first run for office, and everyone gets roughed up the first time. But he stood up and chose to be counted.

A choice he made because he believes in democracy.

While the media and a good chunk of the public – me included – have become rather cynical about the process of choosing those who run things (we choose badly, they perform badly), people like my friend, bereft of cynicism and, frankly, rather hopeful, jump into the fray. It takes time, it takes money, it takes no small amount of courage, and like Coriolanus, you have to stand in the city square and let the people stare at your scars. It’s not a pleasant process. It’s not the grand theatre of democracy we read about. There doesn’t seem to be much noble about politics any more.

And yet there is; because people like my friend offer themselves for positions in small towns because they want the world to be better than it is…and who among us doesn’t.

So, three cheers,”…two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism” (EM Forster), and one for Chris, who believes in it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am and is filed under Realpolitix. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.