Post-Electoral Reflections

Now that we’re a little more than a week after mid-term elections, where do we go from here?

Let’s take a moment to look back at the tenor of the various campaigns both here in our own state and across our country. The money that flowed into the sheer volume of political advertisements must have been astounding: 65,000 ads here in Georgia and 78,000 in Colorado.

What was the end result? The lowest national voter turnout since 1942, and so many of us remain bitterly divided over our political beliefs.

The losing candidates in this past election were not the only losers; civility also took a hit.

But does it have to be this way? Let me offer a personal example.

I will not go into my own politics, (any of you reading this who know me, know where I stand on the political spectrum) but I am happy to say that many of my friends who stand opposite me politically do so with humor and great civility. There is a mutual respect for each other, and our different beliefs, so that we can kid each other about the other’s beliefs to the nth degree, and leave laughing.

Isn’t this the way it should be for the majority of us, and especially for the majority of our professional politicians?

The late Stephen Covey said, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

What incredibly sound advice. If only our political leaders could take these words to heart. If Covey’s advice became the reality of how our politicians dealt with one another, then the red and blue on our American flag could reside peacefully together in the common ground of the white that brings us all together.

AMS