Obvious Questions, Continued

There is a fellow by the name of Lincoln Chaffee. He served as a mayor, a senator, and a governor. In 2015, he launched a bid for the presidency. A major part of his platform was for America to formally adopt the metric system.

Seriously. The metric system. (Choosing this for his campaign is a big regret, he says.)

But, it’s good to ask what I would do if elected. Here’s my list:

1. Listen to people.
2. Ask good, fair questions.
3. Tell the truth.

My sense is that these aren’t happening that much in national politics. Instead politics seems to mostly be about telling people what it’s believed they want to hear while at the same time asking for money.

But I also get that this three-part platform isn’t immediately satisfying. You want to know if I am for or against whatever issue(s) and if our opinions are the same.

Except, I am starting to discover that I don’t have opinions about political issues. What I have is political marketing messages that worked on me. And like many advertising jingles or slogans, I find myself repeating them uncritically.

This is why instead of telling you what laws I think should be passed or repealed I would rather listen to you tell me about your life. Your family. Your challenges. Your ideas.

Because I have opinions, sure, but I’m not running for Congress to represent me. I’m running to represent all of us. So let’s talk. I’ll listen, ask questions, and then tell the truth.

And best of all, I can start that right now, long before Election Day. And perhaps through those conversations, together we can come up with specific actions that make sense and have broad support.

This is what I want to do.