The overwhelming majority of voters in Texas and across the United States are feeling really good after Tuesday night’s victories. Now, it’s time for the real work to begin.
Not to dampen anyone’s excitement, but—as citizens—we must avoid a common trap. We cannot allow ourselves to walk away from this victory shackled to low expectations set by those political cronies who, just a week ago, were whispering sweet pablum in our ears.
It’s time for the grassroots to raise our expectations.
We have been conditioned as citizens to treat the politicians as our nation’s leaders. They are not; they are the people’s servants. Politicians are to “leadership” in our nation what the pimple-faced order-taker at a fast-food chain is to sustinance. Only less so, because at least sometimes that order-taker actually does the work of bringing you a soft drink while you wait for your burger and fries.
Of course, way too many politicians spend a great deal of time and energy trying to convince you otherwise. They want you to think that by setting the policy agenda for you, they are doing you a favor. They insist that they have special insider knowledge about what is and is not feasible. Again, not dissimilar to that fast-food clerk who knows what things the cooks in the back really don’t want to mess with making that day.
In the case of the fast-food joint, customers settle for what is available or leave if they cannot get what they want.
As the citizen-leaders of our republic, conservatives have done way too much “settling” for the low-bar results tepidly offered by our civic clerks.
Frankly, though, that is because we often treat government the way we treat lunchtime hunger as we drive past a fast-food joint. We enter with a vague notion that we’re hungry, knowing that nothing on the menu is actually that good for us, and then let the clerk direct us to pay for what they want us to have.
We must approach government with steadier resolve. As citizens, we cannot let our republic’s fate be limited by what politicians say they will eventually do. We must set higher standards for them and demand loudly that those priorities be achieved. No more settling.
As an aside, as the sovereign master of our republic, it is no more your responsibility to have a “plan” for implementing your ends than it is for you to know how to work the milkshake machine at the burger shack. The politicians run for office explicitly on the promise of solving the problems and producing the outcomes you desire. Let them do the work they’ve signed up to do, or stand ready to replace them with someone who will.
What you do need to know, and what is absolutely critical, is that you know what you expect. Rally your friends and family behind your cause and communicate those expectations loudly, clearly, and without wavering.
Here’s the good news. We are now about to have in the White House, again, a president who, despite being almost unimaginably wealthy, was willing to work a shift behind the counter at McDonalds. Donald Trump made his children work real jobs in their youth. And, more relevant to what’s coming next, he knows the extent to which the alligators in the swamp will seek to unravel the agenda set by real Americans.
Effective citizenship starts with knowing what you expect and then not letting up in the fight until it is accomplished.
