Showing Up

SHOWING UP
By James Gore

Whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent we can all agree that politics in the United States have never been more toxic.

This toxin seeps into our systems as gerrymandered districts, closed primaries, and money-grubbing campaign finance laws. It pits the democracy created by "we the people" against the greater good of “we the people.”

It seeps into our minds, replacing reality with games and spin such as the “Blame the guy before me,” game, and the “I’ll only vote for it if my party created it,” game.

This toxin, it limits our ability to change things for the better. It keeps us mired in the struggle to be right rather than to do what is right.

While this toxicity is how we define the politics of the now, it is not how we will define the politics of our future – not if we the people show up, run our own country, and cure ourselves.

While the now is about Republican, OR Democrat, OR Independent, the future is about citizens AND about citizen leaders.

It is about transcending the same old lines of political dialogue and facing the reality of common goals.

Put simply, the present is about fighting over the parts, and the future is about working for the whole.

This is not a message framed in idealism. We are beyond that. This is reality that needs to be met.

The question: who will lead us beyond our complicated bickering, and back to the "service" part of "public service?"

The answer: you and I will.

Through our votes, through our activism, through our ideas and more than anything, through our actions.

While driving into work the other day I saw a bumper sticker that said, “The world is run by those who show up.”

I agree.

It’s time to show up to vote, to show up at the city council meeting, to show up at the school board, to show up at the church’s volunteer day…it’s time to show up!

The past was theirs, but the future is ours.

And that future is about becoming more than the definitions, more than mere compromise, and far more than idealism. It’s about transcending our pettiness and calling out political pandering and spin for what it is, destructive.

If life in DC has taught me one thing, it’s that good ideas are a dime a dozen. And that those who show up and actualize, realize, and materialize those ideas into reality, they are the ones who will lead.

I am not just dreaming of being one of those leaders, I am working to be one of them…will you join me?

We Americans have never believed in our inability. We are believers in manifest destiny, in the land of opportunity, and in making our own rules.

The future is ours: Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, Millennials, now is our time…so let’s show up and own it.