Last week, a rant and raver thanked Mark Lastinger and me for helping to inspire the local outcry against what they called “political arrogance.” While I don’t want to speak for Mark, I feel compelled to at least share my feelings about that statement.

 The last decade or so, it is true that few have been more critical of our political situation in this nation than I have. I am past sick and tired of being sick and tired of the mishandling of our government.

 However, I’ve done my dead-level best to avoid being particularly critical of the individuals who are on the inside of that situation because often they are danged if they do and durned if they don’t.

 Regardless, I am often asked why I don’t rip into this or that politician, or call them out personally on any number of issues folks feel sure I disagree with as vehemently as they do. This past week, for example, I have had I don’t know how many calls or comments made to me about this or that politician, often either preceded or followed with the caveat that they wish I would help “do something about (insert politicians name here).”

 I understand the frustration level a lot of you feel. Heck, I’ve felt the same frustrations for I don’t know how long, and many of them I have shared on these pages. Yes, I’ve helped organize community meetings to hopefully give people a sense of empowerment in regard to the place they call home.

 However, I think a few things need to be said along those lines.

 If you aren’t happy with the leadership (or lack of it, depending on your point of view) you see in your politicians and the government they pilot, you really have no one to blame for it outside of yourself.

 Seriously. Is it the politician’s fault that they were compelled to run for office? Is it their fault they had enough support to be able to fund their campaign? Is it their fault that they were elected? And — here’s the kicker — is it their fault no one better than they either ran against them or has run for the office they currently hold?

 No, no, no and no.

 See, that’s the thing about our government. At all levels, this nation does the best it can with the leadership that its citizens give it. Period. If there is another person out there with better ideas, where are they hiding? If someone else would do a better job, where are they hiding?

 Why won’t I tear into this politician or that one? You will rarely hear me complain about individual politicians because I respect the fact that at least they had enough gumption to them to get off of their Lazy Boys and get in the middle of the political fray. They are, in the end, more than likely doing the best they can with the gifts they themselves have been given by their Creator.

 The greatest power in the system that is the American government still ultimately rests in the hands of the citizenry. If enough people are compelled to change things, then things will get changed. There is no way around that fact. That might be targeted toward the ideology involved, or, yes, the politicians themselves.

 Yet I am afraid our forefathers would be greatly disappointed in us. We have allowed “the land of the free and the home of the brave” to devolve into “the land of me and the home of the let somebody else do it.”

 If you have something different to bring to the table, then by all means, bring it. If you’re convinced that you would have a better way of doing things than they are currently being done, then please, step up and share your talents with the rest of us. We need the best people we can shaping the future of our community and our nation. How can we be the best we can be without the best we have leading us?

 But until that happens, the people who have been elected by a majority of voters are doing they know how to, and right now, they are best representatives we have. We need to remember that much when we decide to complain about the job they are doing.

 

Of course, you don’t have to be in politics to make a positive difference. You can have a positive impact by being a leader among your friends, in your church or simply in your home.

 Yes, it does my heart good to see people not stand idly by and let things they disagree with in regard to political issues just slide through unquestioned. Being able to speak up about things we disagree with is, at its core, the most American thing most of us will ever do.

 But if you want someone to be aggravated at when your voice isn’t heard the way you feel it should be, or when you feel those at the helm of your government are steering the ship we’re all riding on increasingly toward the rocks, make sure to check out the face in the mirror and ask it what the person behind it could do that isn’t already being done, and if they feel they have something better to offer, why they aren’t doing so.

 Who knows? Maybe that particular one will be the next great face of leadership the rest of us will see.