The Answer My Friend Is Not Blowing In The Wind

The Answer Is Personal Responsibility, Integrity, And Honesty

by Johnny Gunn

After wading through hip-deep snowdrifts the other evening, I stopped at a favorite pub for a warm-me-up, and chanced into a wonderful conversation, something that many today rarely have an opportunity to do. We have become a polarized nation that seems afraid of discussion, discourse, debate. And too often, self-righteous indignation on subjects not understood. One doesn't have to be an intellectual to converse, one simply needs to understand the concept of good manners, courtesy, and respect for a fellow being.

That and a slight amount of knowledge on what is being discussed. This Internet in which we take up a small portion with our offerings is also loaded with as much misinformation as it is with knowledge, and when someone takes for gospel what is put forth without any other research, one can be made to look like a fool in a debate on issues.

In other words, know your subject before you open your mouth. That leads us into the main gist of this small tome; know your politician before you vote. Vote for what you believe in, not what someone tells you to believe in.

In a perfect world, those who run for office would be honest, kind, truthful --- Scout material --- but of course we don't live in a perfect world, and we have to make decisions based on what is being offered, often not the cream of the crop. During our little gathering the other evening, one person asked why we at The Nevada Observer are so intent on discussing the campaign finances of those who run for office. It was suggested that maybe we were trying to cloud the image of one or more of these politicians.

This isn't so. To tarnish a politician's image is not the primary focus of what writers and editors of The Nevada Observer work for. Someone wanting to hold an office of public trust must be answerable to those he wishes to serve. It's rather simple in form. It goes astray when the public allows itself to be bamboozled.

If an elected official refused to hold high personal standards of responsibility to the public, and the public doesn't react by demanding justice, then it is the public at fault, not the elected one. Some in office stay, not because of their impeccable honesty, but because they are buffoons and clowns, the public thinks its just funny as hell. All the time, that official is ripping off millions of dollars from that same public.

Others have no regard for the laws under which they are allowed to raise and spend money in order to attain an office of trust. Bundling expenses in order to hide where the money is actually spent, and on what, or in some cases who. Raising more money than the law allows through so-called personal loans, through subterfuge in conjunction with someone wishing to have monetary control of the official, or just plain old-fashioned lying.

Do we really want that type of person making decisions about our lives? This area of public trust has been despicably sundered by officials who were elected by an uninformed public for too many years. There are some reasons for this, mostly having to do with politicians writing laws under which they run for public office. Foxes in the hen house, wolves at the doors to the vault, great grizzly bears feeding at the public trough.

The biggest problem with all this is --- us. We put them there. A pretty face, an excellent speaker, a glad-hander, and one who speaks in glib phrases without saying anything will get votes while one who understands the concept of public trust, is educated into the position desired, but who doesn't come across as a rock star in the making, is not accepted. Just a little time and effort on the part of the voter, some research into a person's background, and hard questions from a working press that isn't influenced by any of the above, and we might not have these clowns and criminals in office.

Is it really possible for someone who has been elected into several offices over a period of many years to all at once decide it's OK to use a state worker for campaign work? It's similar to the office manager who after 20 years of service is discovered to have been skimming the profits.

Printing and distributing campaign flyers, paying cash to printers and distributors, and then not having a single line in a C&E report on either, doesn't just happen. There has to have been thought in order to do this.

All of the things that we report on dealing with misbehavior by politicians didn't just happen. They are part of a thought-out process, probably have been committed over and over, and we the public let it happen. It is our responsibility, yours and mine, to clean up the stink hole of today's crop of elected officials. When one is found to have possibly committed a crime, bring criminal proceedings. Make the laws have teeth and consequences.

We just finished a grueling election cycle, one in which many issues were on the table, but the debate wasn't centered on issues, it was simply a case of polarization of philosophies, philosophies not well thought out. And intelligent discussion was eliminated by screaming and the use of inappropriate language. The next cycle has already begun, candidates are coming forward and offering themselves to us, and now is the time to learn just who these people are.

In large part, they will be responsible for how much money you will shell out in taxes, how much information you will be allowed regarding the operation of government, whether you will be treated to a clown act or intelligence. Lately it seems, we have elected many who don't understand the concept of public trust, who can't spell ethics, who simply don't give a damn.

The Nevada Observer will continue to try to root out any criminals still in office, to demand changes in election law, to support our right to know what our government is doing. Always, we welcome your comments as well.