Are you ready to rumble? I am!

Politics and public service. How can two concepts become so divergent? I think it’s because of priorities and character. I think of Katrina- FEMA, 2,000+ American troops dead in Iraq, $300 billion expended in Iraq and Afghanistan and growing, energy and foreign policies, Miers and Scooter and the “why” seems so obvious to me.

As I stretch and wait to leave this morning to my starting position in the Marine Corps Marathon in DC, there’s time to dwell on my last two weeks and the things I’ve listed above. First, I’m running in this Marathon for a few reasons: My last race was the Ocean State Marathon in 2000. I had trained for two races last year that were a month apart and injured my knee just prior to the first, but the good news was it wasn’t a degenerative disorder the doctor thought it might have been, only bad stretching. That got me to thinking how I was part of the problem. I could also be part of the solution.

My lack of stretching caused the injury, but I had the ability to do something about it. I chose not to and the consequences are obvious. I also ran the Marine Corps Marathon in the early 90’s, but did not complete it; although, I was in top notch condition, because my wife at the time was unable to finish and I did not want to leave her behind. I wanted to run because the Marines have always had a place in my heart, as did all the runners who for numerous reasons need to do these 26.2 miles. Many, like me, are just trying to get into better shape after being dormant. Finally, I am running as part of a Team in Training (TNT) fundraiser for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society that finds cures for childhood cancer. Since before I was 30, I have been involved in one or another humanitarian type volunteerism and/or fund raising campaigns for those who are in need of help.

So, the thoughts above in some ways attempt to strike a balance between doing for oneself and doing for others. During the past two weeks, I have attended numerous gatherings in the Latino and African-American communities where children, women or men are recognized for their personal achievements that have contributed to their own growth while making a positive impact on their communities. There are so many heroes who do some remarkable things with so little and overcome a lot of obstacles. In one way or another, we all deal with some obstacle. Most of them have solutions. Most of them require our direct involvement. When I step back, I realize the public service part comes into view, when we try to solve the same problems we ourselves experience for those who are unable to solve them. I admit there are times we see this as “not our problem” or it was made our problem, but I think human nature makes us socially aware and we need to help or we feel somewhat guilty or upset with ourselves when we don’t.

So why are politics and public service sometimes so divergent? I believe it happens when the public servant places self-interest before the people. In the case of Katrina, we saw how over $1 billion in “pork” could be used for a bridge to no where in Alaska, but $70 million wasn’t available to shore up the levees in New Orleans. The problem was simple as was the solution, but it wasn’t a priority, so the cost to U.S. taxpayers will now be $200 billion by some estimates. Yet, there’s no accountability by those in Congress, the Bush administration and FEMA who caused the “man-made” part of this problem.

The War in Iraq was also manmade. We were angry and afraid and we had a president who leveraged this into our invading a dictatorship under a series of lies that began with WMD’s, then removal of a dictator, and then restoring democracy. All the while, we knew the terrorists were not from Iraq, there was no U.N. or U.S. identified WMD, the dictator had once been an ally of the U.S., when our foreign policy with Iran crumbled; despite our knowing of Saddam’s atrocities in his own country. Our foreign policy in the Middle East has been driven by our energy policy, which is as much about big corporate interests as it is about economic ones. Bottom line, we are selective as to which dictatorships and rogue governments we ignore (such as N. Korea, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia). This, in turn, alienates the people of other lands because of our policy hypocrisy that directly impacts their lives. And, we “the people” by our inaction in the elective process or absence of gaining knowledge often allow this to occur because we’re not aware how we are directly involved until its brought to our attention in extreme ways.

In the case of the wars, we are seeing it because our economy is struggling and our local taxes increase while keeping quality education in our communities becomes the symptom. This is because there’s a limited amount of money and who will receive it and who will pay for it is unfairly allocated. Contributors benefit because the taxes of the very rich are cut by $100,000 annually. That’s right, the top 1% SAVED in taxes more than 90% of us earn in a year before taxes. Let that sink in. That’s the amount of reduced taxes they did not have to pay. Most of this income is from wealth, not work, but we supported this when the middle class received its $350 tax credit. The rich politicians put their self-interest before our own; when they knew our economy could not sustain this cut, but provided two additional cuts to the wealthy since then and are trying to reduce further taxes to the wealthy and large corporations. These are the same sources for most political contributions, because they know at least 80% of the public remains unaware and even fewer will do anything about it at the polls during elections.

So our small victories are when Miers, with no viable chance of being a Supreme Court judge, is struck down, when Bush is so arrogant in his political bubble as to propose her to begin with. And with “Scooter” when Dick Cheney permits a CIA agent to be “outed” to settle a score with the agent’s husband and uses his Chief of Staff to do the dirty work. In politics, this is blatant disregard for the public. Why would we expect anything more when it concerns our troops? And at the local political level? It’s about certain school committee members, city/town, district-wide and statewide officials who put personal gain above their trust in and duty to the voters. I sense we’re all fed up and it’s time to vote these people out by supporting their opponents. I’m ready to rumble. Are you?