Boy, did I make the right decision

     Nine years ago, in a moment of exasperation, I decided to run for public office. The punishment for my rashness was getting elected, and being slow to learn, I ran again, and was again punished with victory.
     I thought I would make a positive difference. I was too far along in life to think I could change the world, but perhaps I could preserve the public's faith in a little patch of it, the county in which I live and had raised by sons. I was miffed about being lied to -- miffed more at myself for falling for it, after all those years in journalism; you'd have thought I would have known better. But I had allowed myself to be deluded, and the only path to redemption was to get involved, pick up lance and shield, and tilt away at cynics and manipulators who would exploit the people. I was not smarter than everyone else, but I was reasonably honest, and I was determined to guard the processes so the average citizen, who was as clueless as I had ever been, would be given half a chance to know what what going on, why, and who were the players. It was just basic journalism 101, really -- the five W's -- who, what, when, where, and why, and sometimes how.
     My guiding theory was that, given the facts, the people would choose to follow the leader who shined the light on those facts. Boy, was I wrong. So, about two years ago, I decided I would not run for re-election.  But I have no regrets for myself. If anything, now that I have finished two terms in elected office, I may finally have attained another level of education. 
      Join me here as I relate my thoughts on political correctness, liberals versus conservatives versus nut cases, the futility of transparency in any level of government, and how we manage to remain a world power when it seems that the current direction of public involvement seems like a bad dream about the Jerry Springer show, with an audience that knows more about Dancing with the Stars than it does how local government works.