Jon Bruning announced his intent to run for Senate two days after midterm elections were over: this is why people hate politics.
Bruning’s announcement was just a symptom of a growing attitude amongst politicians and political operatives that it’s always Election Day. There’s never time to govern anymore because everyone is focused on the voting booth. And people hate us for that.
All the negative campaigning and mudslinging isn’t just confined to election season anymore. Now, it’s a year long affair that contributes to partisan gridlock that frustrates and angers the electorate every passing week.
Most people are too busy with their lives to care about politics every day of the week. They’ve got families to feed, homework to do and bills to pay that are just the top of a long To-Do list with little room for following the nuanced political battles in every level of government. For the love of Pete, can’t people get some time to sleep?
But no, just a mere three days after being re-elected to his position as Nebraska’s Attorney General, Jon Bruning has to start campaigning for 2012. Just as we all thought we’d crossed the finish line out of breath and exhausted, Bruning has to fire the starting gun all over again.
Please don’t think me politically naive. Any politico worth her salt knows that the next election is just around the bend, and it’s imprudent to rest even for a moment on your laurels. But I work in politics. I don’t get paid to rest.
For most people, politics is an interest or a hobby. They don’t watch cable news, devour the newspapers and scan the political blogs while running on two cans of Red Bull and midnight deliveries from Jimmy John’s. That’s my job. Most people have bigger fish to fry like budgeting for health insurance, keeping their jobs, paying off their mortgages and getting the kids (or themselves) to school.
Jon Bruning’s announcement is just another message to these people that their lives don’t matter, the game does. Bruning’s message is loud and clear: he doesn’t work for us, he’s a servant to his own ambition.
Ambitious politicians who only serve as a way to feed their egos and pad their resume for their next election turn the average voter off of politics. Who wants to vote when the majority of politicians care more about winning than governing? Why not just stay home and check off more important things on the growing To-Do list?
At Bold, we believe politics matter, it’s always on our To-Do list. But we know it can’t always be on yours. That’s why we’re here, to pay attention to politics while you’re busy and throw up a red flag when it’s truly important. Politics and government matter, but you don’t have the time to let it consume your every waking thought. And we believe politics should be about more than the campaigns, it should be about governing.
Egotistical politicians who care more about their next campaign than actually governing in a never-ending rat race — it’s no wonder that people scoff at politics and opt out of the democratic process altogether. What are we doing to prove ourselves worthy of their valuable time and attention?
