By Brian McKay
When you think of your elected representatives do you think you want the unrealism associated with perfection or do you think you'd rather have fallible and real serving you. Many will claim to want real and admitting to be flawed like the rest of us, but election dialogue often tells a different story.
Soon the political attacks ads will increase precipitously. We have already seen an immense amount of fighting over pasts and name calling within the Republican nomination fight. Soon that will become name calling and digging up pasts in the general election. It won't just be in the fight for the Presidency but in almost every other election this year. Just like every other year.
Did so-and-so cheat? Maybe they once smoked pot or got a DUI. Holy shit, shudder the fact that the opponent is actually human. When the populous tunes out the actual policy debate, turn to accusations that paint the other guy as a sinner.
These attacks work especially well in the Bible Belt. The only problem with their effectiveness is that perfection doesn't exist and those that claim to be the most moral and perfect often end up being the most flawed and corruptible.
Sexuality is usually a big problem. Those that claim to pass some sort of religious purity litmus test often end up showing the true effects of sexual repression at some point.
Alabama is classic representation of the corruptibility of those claiming perfection and being total hypocrites in the process. Currently, the 73 year old governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley, is accused of using state resources in carrying on an extramarital affair with his former communications director. It should come as no surprise that Governor Bentley came into office touting his Christian faith and conservative family values. Shortly after his inauguration in 2011 he stated, "Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister. And I want to be your brother." Now he faces impeachment hearings with a list of salacious statements and testimony of compromising situations with the staffer over 30 years his junior.
The Alabama House will get to hear tape recordings of the governor saying, "When I stand behind you, and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands [unintelligible] and just pull you real close. I love that, too."
We won't even go into the ethics charges against the same head of the Alabama Supreme Court who blocked same sex marriage licenses and will be overseeing impeachment hearings.
It's not just Alabama though. It plays out constantly with those that claim moral superiority and perfection. The list of Republican representatives that have extolled the sins of homosexuality and then been exposed in homosexual affairs is never ending.
It seems easy to make these excessive demands in a country where much of the populous revises history to the extent of elevating this country's founders to near God-like status. The byproduct of fighting communism, was to create an alternate historical reality that portrays perfection in men that were far from it. It is the fact that they were human and flawed that makes them even better.
So what about just being real? Maybe the beauty of President Obama is that he has been one of the most real presidents in history. Yes, he smoked pot in college. He hosts beer summits and has been photographed on multiple occasions enjoying the company of children just like he is one of them. Maybe that is why I also trust him more than others. The right has consistently tried to paint him as a narcissist that secretly hates his country. I see a real person that can play with kids.
Of all the presidential hopefuls, only Bernie Sanders has been real. Donald Trump might be real, if real involves doses of psychosis and narcissism. The rest are just pandering, as politicians so often do. That anyone believes this shit, is amazing.
Your local races will see claims of Christian values running against a heathen. Moral misgivings of the past will be dug up. Any transgression will be highlighted as proof that the opponent is unfit to serve.
It's all bullshit. Raw is great. No one is perfect and the Devil is just an excuse for the fact that we are human. In this life we are all hypocrites. Only the degree of hypocrisy is the separating factor. It just so happens that I prefer those that try to keep their hypocrisy to a minimum, and hope you do to.
zenruption has frequently espoused the need for authenticity in businesses and that the person who owns their flaws makes the best leader. Why wouldn't we want that in those we elect to serve us?
Brian McKay is a co-founder of zenruption. He has some silly degrees and has done plenty of stupid shit in life. He owns his hypocrisy and flaws. We are plenty sure he has plenty of those. Actually, we are positive.
Feature photo courtesy of Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license