I’m a bit tardy in posting this week…that’s because there’s been a lot going on. Right now, the nation is reeling after the shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk. Now honestly, I don’t know a lot about him. I do know his political leaning and applaud him for taking a stand. Did he deserve this? Absolutely not, no one does, no matter who they support. And I use this as a launch pad for a political story of my own.
First off, I’m a political animal. I follow it, study it, disagree more than I agree with some of the stuff…but overall the process always intrigued me. Back in my TV news days I was heavily recruited to run for state office. I’m not going to get into specifics except to say one party wanted to retain this open seat while the other wanted to regain it. I had the governor calling me at home, I had others in the political arena calling. I even found out one of the party’s commissioned a poll. It’s called a “Q-Rating” and it measures the familiarity and appeal of a brand, celebrity, company, or entertainment product in a given area. I found out a high rating is somewhere around 50%. Mine was in the 80s and both sides were drooling. I was constantly asked about my overall political stance and I said I’d vote my head, my heart and my constituents. I was flatly told I’d be a one termer, wouldn’t get any significant committee appointments and the only thing I needed to know was the amount of per diem driving back and forth to Madison from Rhinelander and the pension benefits. THAT is what soured me on politics.
I wasn’t asked about issues. I wasn’t asked about ideas. I was TOLD to maintain the party line, whatever that was, even if I didn’t agree with it. Sorry, but I don’t play those games. Needless to say I didn’t go anywhere with it and for the rest of my career, tried to hold people accountable in government, no matter the location, local, state, national, whatever. I still try. And what makes things a lot worse is the internet because many people simply believe what is read first. I monitor dozens of news sources every day and the differences are huge. I have to take it all in and formulate a decision or opinion. Sometimes, it’s pretty darn hard.
There are times I’m embarrassed to be a member of the media because of the garbage some of these people dump out there. Do I have opinions? Sure, and I say that by being about as politically neutral as a plum. I’m hoping to finally retire soon, after 53 years in media and not have to worry about what I may say or to whom. If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Imagine a world where differing opinions were embraced and compromises reached. It’s getting harder to do…
MM