RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE (Part 1)

"Our world to-day is still far from solving the problem of representation and from producing a public assembly which will really summarize, crystallize, and express the thought and will of the community; our elections are still largely an ingenious mockery of the common voter who finds himself helpless in the face of party organizations which reduce his free choice of a representative to the less unpalatable of two political hacks".
-H. G. Wells, The Outline Of History, XXVII, Science of Thwarting the Common Man.

When the infamous shot rang out in Dallas, I found myself jogging down a street in Wiesbaden, Germany on the way back to base. Candles began appearing in windows, tiny flickers cutting through the dank, and I wondered why? A cabdriver, waiting for a light, broke the news. I was, at the time, serving as a parachute rigger in the Eleventh Airborne Division, young and seemingly indestructible, an idealist who had enlisted at a president's call during a crisis; and now, my quondam partner, the mellifluous political poet whose verbal dexterity nudged me ever so gently out a jump door, had just been slaughtered like a dear bagged with a hunting rifle. As I watched from afar the shameful events passing into history, realizations that would last a lifetime inculcated into my being. We weren't free. American politics was a sham. Laws were like spider webs, made to ensnare the weak and ignorant; but the rich and powerful broke through with ease. So utterly indelible became the cynicism that for 33 years, I would not enter a voting booth; and to this very day, the receding gravity of Dallas tugs at my thoughts. Bogart's soliloquy justifying his actions to Mary Aster in The Maltese Falcon revisit me in the same frame as the event, "...when a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it..."

According to legend, Theseus was the first king to willingly give up his throne so that the people could rule themselves. The result was the Athenian democracy, the world's first, and the model for our own democracy, which is ensconced in American folklore as "government of the people, by the people, and for the people". The major difference between contemporary and ancient forms is that we have representative government (politicians are elected by popular vote), but the Athenians actually ruled themselves: each post of government was filled by ordinary citizens who drew lots, and served in an office that best suited their individual talents for a term of one day each year. While we would expect chaos to ensue from this unorthodoxy, just the opposite occurred; the Athenians built an empire, and we are told by historians that many states joined willingly because of the impartiality of the courts and the fairness of the tax system. In order to solve today's seemingly insoluble political problems, society should heed the lessons of history and lean more heavily on the common man, instead of mindlessly accepting the dictates of career politicians.

The reelection rate for politicians in New York State is greater then 98 percent, and antithetical to public opinion which is unilaterally unfavorable to politicians by about the same amount. Obviously, this game is rigged. While the common man is pushed further and further out on the hot coals of competition, placing ever greater demands on "self reliance," our "public servants" have voted themselves a socialistic paradise within the belly of this capitalistic beast. Politicians enjoy ever more lavish benefits, including iron-clad (or at least 98% certain) job security - far greater then at General Motors, Ford, AT&T, and Boeing. Until ordinary citizens, empowered by gentler election laws, can infiltrate and attenuate a system dominated by the rigidity of party politics, and everyday common sense can be imparted by the working class in service to the common good, nothing will change. Even the hounds that guard the gates are political animals. Election officials are appointed, so politicians, in effect, supervise themselves.

The people of New York State received a gift in 1994 from a man named Thomas Golisano. Some wealthy individuals donate their art collections to the public, others give scholarships, or public buildings, Tom gave us his personal political party to do with as we will, a brand new entity gained by his multi-million dollar run for governor, and now named the Independence Party, found on Row "D" of the voting machine. This nidifugous eaglet, still wobbly and struggling to fly, is not sure what it wants to be when it grows up, Republican? Democrat? or maybe some of each? There is a faction though, to which I subscribe, that wants to be the party of the shoemakers, and barbers, mechanics, and tailors, bakers and bootblacks; not just to say, as emulators of some junior Republicratic party, "we represent these people", but to be these people, suckle, and intromit an omnifarious stream of ordinary folk into the halls of government; to build a party, and strengthen the nation with common clay; like the Emperor Vespasian - history's very model of Roman sobriety - endorse candidates who reek of garlic rather then perfume.

It is my intention to run for public office in the 1997 New York City election, to write extensively about the experience so that others may come to better understand the election process from the inside out, to look up close at the wrinkles and warts, and to point out my fresh made scars; most importantly, to widely disseminate the information. Issues and campaign rhetoric are not the basis of this story, which is envisioned as more a Dantesque tour of the netherworld, and while I have no Virgil as a guide, I do have a mentor; a feisty lady who ran in the last election - a $500 campaign for Congress - just to learn the ropes and speak her mind, and while she came in last, it was a personal victory. She was the only candidate who wasn't a Republican or Democrat the Independence Party managed to field in Election 96, along with Ross Perot.

And so, on the eve of this adventure, after putting my affairs somewhat in order, resigning from the Party's County Committee, and preparing to explore eerie new places with an almost childlike innocence, the advice of Joseph Campbell comes to mind, "follow your bliss and doors will open that you never knew were there". Let's hope so.