Be The Change
Politics might now be defined as a tool used by people or organizations to manipulate an issue to self-serve their own personal interests. Some elected officials have manipulated the essence of politics to the point that the only voice that matters is their own. This is an extreme contradiction to the essence and nature of true public service.
There’s no question in my mind why so many people have difficulties working together to accomplish a common goal for the greater good of community. Many people have learned the art of using articulation to get a seat at the table, and then using their presence to fulfill their personal ambitions. Now imagine when multiple people with this posture are at the table. The only thing that might get accomplished is everyone having heard someone else’s ideals about how they can provide a benefit to themselves for being present. When this is the “selfs” have been served, and the community has been left unchanged.
For the selfless public servant, politics is defined as utilizing your place in the world to advocate for effective policy and transformative governance that raises a community from its current state onto the path of bliss. I say “onto the path of bliss” because each of us is limited by our own mortality, and may not live or be in a position to see this through to the end, but the goal is to get communities on a trajectory to better.
I am the only African-American to have served as Mayor of the City Of Muskogee. I influenced policy, people, programming, and planning in a way that ushered in an era of transformative change for the community, inspiring young people their dreams had no limits, and building a culture that Muskogee is too big for small dreams. But a person does not have to follow my exact footsteps in order to bring positive change to their community.
Politics is not limited to those who are elected to public office because its primary driver are the people that it serves. Politics is an instrument not just an office. That means you the retiree, the school teacher, or you the janitor or the truck driver, or you the high school student or nonprofit workers and volunteers can be the change agent your community needs.
It’s a falsehood created by some elected officials that you “need” them to be elected by you for your voices to be heard. Factcheck… they need you! Their policies should be driven by your politics and your voices and not the other way around. Too many times we have allowed politicians to campaign on an agenda they claimed was about the people, but after they were elected became servants of party rhetoric and abandoned the people. You can stop that by reminding them through elections and neighborhood grassroots that they work for you!
How will you use your place in life to bring about the changes that need to be made for your community to be better? Gandhi suggested in a speech that we should be the change we wish to see in the world. Rather than complain to each other, we should unite with each other against the politics of the past, and force politicians to make politics about the people they were elected to serve… BE THE CHANGE!
