I’ve dabbled in politics for twenty-some years by gathering signatures for candidates and ballot issues, donating money, to actively campaigning for candidates, to managing my five campaigns for school board. Each election cycle became more complex–more requirements, more laws, and a lot more money. Arizona school board races are supposedly non-partisan, and an elected school board member receives ZERO compensation for their four-year term. Yet, in 2022, some candidates spent in excess of $50,000 on their campaigns! For what? For people to yell and disparage at the board members about the teachers, the curriculum, and the cafeteria food. For the governor and/or the legislature to slash their budgets, change their textbooks, ban their library books, and decimate their Advanced Placement course offerings.

Of course, I have a theory about this sudden attack on the public schools. Smoke and mirrors, bait and switch, the shell game. Some politicians have perfected their routines to the point of nothing more than rhetoric about things that are trivial. Things that really are of minimal importance in the big picture. In fifteen months, we will be asked to elect a new POTUS (President of the United States). And besides opponent bashing, all I’m hearing are buzz words like woke, fake news, stolen elections, LGBTQ, and shady dealings with foreign governments. They purposefully ignore the difficult issues Americans face–climate change, housing costs, gun control, the economy, homelessness, immigration, health care, the poor, mental health, social security, and international trade relations.

Why? Because those are hard issues which require commitment, cooperation, and collaboration–not pork-barreling and grand standing. It’s much easier to destroy an underpaid teacher for discussing Huckleberry Finn or reading Dr. Seuss.

America is in dire need of heroes and heroines who are willing to up hold the US Constitution, to tackle real problems, and to commit to working in the spirit of what’s good for ALL Americans, not just special interest groups. We need heroes and heroines to focus on All of us, not just getting re-elected term after term. I am holding out for states people who put duty before self.