Politicians and a Dark Horse
Politicians almost always dwell near the bottom of polls reflecting public respect. Yet, almost always, Americans who vote do so for one politician or another. That's because they are almost never given a choice.
Let's agree that a politician is an elected official who wants to make public office a career. The conventional way to do that is to occupy some amorphous "center," make as many people happy as possible, know how to "work a room" -- that is, schmooze and charm -- and never exhibit innovation, let alone courage.
Ironically enough, the Massachusetts contest to replace Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the most courageous politicians of our time, offers one candidate who is a public servant, not a conventional politician. Alan Khazei, one of the founders of City Year, the prototype for AmeriCorps, is as close as we have to a Mr. (or Ms.) National Service.
Alan Khazei has never held nor even sought public office. Yet here he is campaigning for the U.S. Senate to replace a political icon. He has ignited public interest in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the country by his demonstration of grassroots political and financial support. He refuses PAC money and he offers responses to the challenges of the day that are new, different, and creative. His campaign theme is Big Democracy, the responsibility of citizens to take control of their everyday political lives.
For those of us who have the soul of the darkhorse, Khazei represents the same hope Barack Obama did in 2008. If you haven't heard about him now, you will very soon and, possibly, in a big and surprising way.
Follow Gary Hart on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gary__hart
Mark Coker: Why We Need $4.00 Books
The day has come for publishers to offer a $4.00 book. Most books are too expensive. Compared to lower cost alternative media sources, books are becoming niche consumables like caviar.
Gerald Sindell: The Great Conversation Interrupted. Kindle, Annotated.
When we buy a copy of a book, we own that copy. When we purchase, for almost as many dollars, a Kindle or other electronic version of a book, we have not really bought a copy of the book.
What matters is how we -- readers, publishers, technologists -- achieve what we want. Paper books aren't the only game in town anymore, and maybe in certain cases they aren't the best game.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Choosing among politicians is mostly like going to a chinese restaurant and being offered steamed rice or fried. But the forces of nature seem to cough up generational leaders when most needed. Let's hope that we teeming hoards can continue to recognize these leaders when they appear.
"Khazei represents the same hope Barack Obama did in 2008."
Yea, well, thanks a lot.
"Khazei represents the same hope Barack Obama did in 2008."
We could use a whole bunch like that who are willing to work hard on cleaning up this mess.
No doubt, somebody is cleaning up.
Is it only the banksters?
Alan Khazei couldn't hold Obama's toilet paper. This guy had a great idea...cityYear...but he and his fellow Harvard law graduate- City Year co Founder...have had one job their entire lives...mismanagement of CityYear. They (HE) have no management skills whatsoever. Having worked at City Year...I can tell you this non profit...at least while I was there was a top./down organization rather than a bottom/up institution. These two men were self-centered celebrity chasers.
Gary ...bad call...sorta like years ago when you challenge the press to follow you around. I think you are a fabulous politician, but you got this all wrong.
Right you are, Gary Hart! Let's get this snowball rolling downhill and begin filling our congressional seats with candidates that actually see public service as something other than serving the public at the consent of corporations and their interest groups.
Politicians would probably be more likable if they made bribery (aka private campaign finance) illegal. As long as bribery is legal, people will continue to view politicians as whores.
We need more candidates refusing PAC and corporate donations. It's the only way to get our governance back into the hands of the people. An independent party refusing those funds and turning away lobbyists would do well in the minds of the people, unfortunately big money is needed to run a campaign and there's a well oiled machine at the ready to take down independents by any means necessary. The internet has enabled many candidates to get out their message, but as we've seen with the likes of Mr. McCain, the incumbents are fighting hard to restrict the internet and ultimately protect their corporate sponsors. A nationwide campaign for Big America needs to take hold and take on the oligarchs.
The people that we are allowed to vote for are corporate products, not great people.
Unfortunately, that search for the "magic middle" in U.S. politics usually results in the least informed, most unprincipled, most compromise-obsessed voters deciding each election. If some political strategist could find something that the more intelligent part of the extreme wings of each party have in common, figure out a way of bringing them together, and let the other regular politicians fight over the table scraps in the middle of the road, something good might actually come of our electoral process.
We are given "Stepford Candidates". Candidates must meet such standards that could only be met by people who are slanted toward abnormal living. Give bush credit, he was a doper, a drunk and a total failure at anything that he tried, but he could be photographed and quoted repeating what was told to him. Also, he had a name. Candidates aren't selected, they're presented. They are a corporate product and resource. Kinda like a stable of horses, not real people.
As the article alluded to, we can only trust candidates that don't receive PAC or corporate money. That usually limits us to Green Party candidates.
I remember my mother telling me about a Ted Kennedy rally she attended 30-40 years ago where he made the point that no matter how just or noble your cause you can't do anything unless you get elected. I believe that anyone running for office who is totally honest about his/her beliefs is unelectable. So we get schmooze and charm (and lies).
Alan Khazei offers the same hope as Obama? That's a kiss of death! Obama has killed voting for hope. In the future we need to look for accomplishments also.
What a refreshing breath of clean air.
"That's because they are almost never given a choice."
Worse, Gary, they are almost always given a bad choice: wingnuts molded by the extreme left and right of the party that determines primaries; people to whom the idea of civility is foreign and for whom common cause is thought 'comfort to the enemy,'
Mr. Hart,
I love your politics and agree with what you are saying. Perhaps you are correct and Khazei would be a great Senator.
But lets be honest about the reality (as shameful as it might be) that he has no chance of winning.
His family heritage is a significant hindrance. Not that he is a child of immigrants (of course Obama won), but the specific country that his father came from.
No matter who he is, what he believes, and what he has accomplished so far, the vast majority of Americans will not find him acceptable (for clarification I don't have a problem with him or his heritage).
Even the majority of Dems will recoil at the thought of him as a Senator (like I said, shameful).
As a test, you or anyone can walk into any room anywhere and anytime. First look around to get a sense of the mood and how things are going. Then speak out lound enough for people to hear and just say the word "Iran" and see what happens. You will see some instant angry faces, some annoyed faces, and some grumpy faces.
I don't know much about Khazei, but I think you set yourself to proven wrong. After all, Massechusetts is the state that elected a Republican governor and repeatedly re-elects an outspoken, openly gay Congressman. If a black guy with an odd name can be elected POTUS, then it shouldn't be a stretch that a good candidate who happens to be the son of an Iranian immigrant can be elected Senator of Massechusetts. If a Kennedy wanted the seat, then I'd agree with you. Otherwise, if his positive reputation precedes him, he might be able to pull it off.
At times you are wonderfully honest: "Yet, almost always, Americans who vote do so for one politician or another. That's because they are almost never given a choice." You have described American politics in total.
I'm once again proud that a long time ago, I campaigned and voted for you during the Presidential primaries.
I think Alan Khazei would make a perfect senator from Massachusetts and am pleased that the Kennedy clan is not putting forward one of its own. Alan has earned people's respect the hard way....he's worked on behalf of others without any discernible career path pointing towards politics. I'm confident that many people who know him feel the way I do and that the Massachusetts political aristocracy will look and think hard about challenging a gem like Alan and trying to block his getting to Washington. Governor Patrick and the various Democratic congressmen who feel they are entitled to challenge for Ted Kennedy's seat should wholeheartedly endorse him and soon. Gary Hart is right.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
