I am tired of candidates promising to “fight” for me, or “fight against” something or someone. I want candidates who can make government work in a positive way.
I DON’T WANT to vote for someone to fight for me. In fact, I’m sick to death of every politician who buys an ad on TV these days promising me they will go to wherever and fight for me.
There is a heated Democratic primary for governor next door in New Jersey and one candidate has used AI to create an ad of him, bare-chested and gloved up, taking on Donald Trump. He’ll fight Trump, he says. So will his opponents. I know with mid-terms coming up in 2026 there will be candidates across the country vying for the tag of “top fighter.”
Enough. It just doesn’t offend my Quaker sensibilities; it’s the wrong approach. Getting elected to some office to “fight” may be what’s gone wrong with this country, among a host of other things.
What I want is pretty simple. I want people to tell me why they want me to vote for them. Why do you want this office? Can you give me a bullet-point list of what you want to accomplish, hopefully one created after listening to all us mere citizens? Can you tell me how you are going to accomplish it? What can you do in that office to work with others to bring about positive change, to help the helpless and to make government more of an invisible, well-tuned asset that runs in the background?
I know that may come off as a little boring. God forbid you’d come off as soft compared to all the other bare-knuckled brawlers of all genders, races and ethnicity. But maybe boring is what we need now. I’m not talking about a lack of honest charisma, just taking the combat language out of it all.
If I lived in Jersey right now, I wouldn’t vote for Josh Gottheimer just because of his ads. I wouldn’t vote for anyone associated with some filthy big-money PAC attack ads.
So, “fighters” won’t get my vote going forward. Folks who want to serve, have a clear idea of how to do that and show me they can make this system we hold dear work will have my ear.
Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He also writes the intodementia.com blog about his family’s experience with dementia. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].