My good friend Ed turned me down the other day.
I had approached him because I was sure he could help us. It never occurred to me he might say no.
Ed is an innovative businessman, a loving husband and a devoted father. He's active in his community, and gives generously of his time to a number of volunteer organizations. An amateur musician himself, he takes a strong interest in the arts and culture. He speaks three languages, and seems able to communicate easily with everyone he meets.
If that was all, he might just be a well-rounded guy. But Ed is also endowed with encyclopedic knowledge of history, and a keen sense of justice tempered with understanding. He is intimate with the most important achievements of humanity, and speaks with deep emotion about its episodes of depravity. He has the character to convey his passion to others.
When my party asked for my help in drafting him as our next leader, I jumped at the chance. What our country couldn't do with a man like Ed at the helm! But Ed said no. Yesterday, I received the following letter from him.
"My dear good friend,
It was good to talk to you the other day. If I put myself in your shoes, I can take pleasure in your offer. I wanted to make sure you knew why I turned you down.
In your view, our country is beset with many problems. Our economy struggles to throw off its yoke of stagnation and unemployment. Companies merge and service declines. We long for a cleaner environment and yet rivers die and an ugly haze spreads over the countryside.
Our medical system is breaking down, just when our aging population needs it most. The welfare system is facing bankruptcy but the number of dependents is growing. Many of them spend their entitlements on drugs and alcohol.
Children are growing up without sufficient guidance, and as a result, violence is spreading among our youth. Our education system is failing. Hatred between racial and cultural groups is on the rise.
Our politicians have been the biggest disappointment. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they grandstand. They take our money, promise us great things, and rarely deliver. They've disappointed us so often we've come to count on it.
You think I'd be different.
Think again, my friend! Think again.
In my business, I strive to enroll my customers and employees in a vision we've established. Our staff is involved in countless conversations to design better products, more useful services, and more productive ways of working together. We talk to our customers and try to determine what they need. We work to produce it without waste, and at a profit. When we are successful, our business grows -- one relationship at a time. If we fail to anticipate changing technologies or changing markets, we won't last long.
In the past 15 years, my two-man shop has grown to employ thousands. Now you want me to take an economy of millions, and lead it to prosperity. What makes you think I can? What makes you think that a law here and a tax there can substitute for the hard work and personal attention of thousands of business owners and millions of employees? How can a book of regulations, no matter how thick, substitute for the intelligence and priorities of a world of producers and consumers? My intimate knowledge of what it takes to nurture just one successful business tells me that the shortcut you crave is not possible.
You talk about the environment. I strive to "tread lightly on the earth". Yet I know that every single action we take has some consequence on the environment. I am engaged in a daily inquiry into how we can achieve our goals without spoiling what we already have. What is worth the disruption and what is not? What technologies (both new and old) can deliver more end-user satisfaction at a lower environmental cost?
Each of us has our own ideas of what is too much, and somehow we must reach a complex and ever-changing consensus. What makes you think that I could issue a decree and make the whole planet beautiful? Without sacrificing anyone's well being? Perhaps if you understood the ecology of human action, you would see that such environmental harmony only comes from the evolution of a voluntary symbiosis.
You mention welfare, and education, and raising children. These are all my concerns. I have found joy in helping those who strive, or assisting those who are growing and learning. Nothing pleases me more than coaching someone to become independent, to see a new possibility for themselves, to achieve a new mastery. With my own children, with the help of friends and family, I have been successful. Now you think that I could sit in the Capital and reach out with an overflowing war chest and an army of social workers, and achieve what a nation of families and communities cannot do for their own. You are dreaming, my friend.
You think that if you hand me a scepter and seat me on a velvet throne, I will somehow have the power to right all wrongs. I would provide for the welfare of the pensioners, when I have yet to fully secure that of my family. I would heal the sick and find new cures for old diseases, and yet I am not even a doctor. I would establish a new Commission and suddenly all people would love and understand one other. You should thank me for refusing the job.
If I were to take on such an impossible task, here's what you might expect.
In my first term, I would start to hide my ignorance. How could I pretend to handle all the nation's problems without all the solutions? The electorate would expect me to have all answers to all questions and I would begin to oblige them. Soon I would lose my own ability to distinguish fact from fancy.
In my second term, I would make the first of many empty promises. In my heart, I would know that what I promised was impossible. I would say something just to avoid admitting, "How can I accomplish what you cannot do for yourselves?" After a time, I would begin to believe that I had some magic power not possessed by ordinary men.
In my third term, I would begin to blame others for the inevitable failures. "The people aren't working hard enough to follow my directives. The master plan is being thwarted by those whose selfish little plans run contrary to it." Soon I would begin to mobilize the police to ensure that the edicts are obeyed, the quotas adhered to. With my growing sense of power would come a growing arrogance. For if I have the power to command you, why should I waste time in self-examination.
In the years thereafter, I would feel the need to justify my use of power. I would begin to declare victories where none exist. I would suppress any knowledge that ran counter to my claims. I would censor those who "oppose order and good government." I would engage in the character assassination of my enemies, and perhaps, if the pressures should grow too great, in their actual assassination.
In the end, knowing that I had made things worse, the hopelessness of deriving any real satisfaction from my work would lead me to search for "just a little personal gain to pay for all my sacrifices." A secret offshore fund might come in handy against the day when some new idealist should seek to commandeer the ship of state.
This is not a future I wish for my country or myself.
My friend, the best of our leaders will never take the job you offer. They want to lead in the greater voluntary community, where the scope of their influence is as wide as the circle of men and women they can inspire and enroll. Of the candidates who come running, those who want it most will travel furthest down the path I have described. These you should fear.
I think you understand all this. Yet still you hope that I can fight one last battle for you. You believe that I am the one to set you free from this plague of politics, lies, and plunder. Unfortunately, I can no more liberate this nation than I can lead it to prosperity. The only way that you and our countrymen can be free is when you cease your search for saviors, and strive to be leaders in your own lives.
This is the job to which I have pledged my life.
Warmest personal regards.
Your friend, Edward."
Stirring piece of writing, that. It's a shame he's not interested in politics. I wonder if he knows anyone else who might take the job.
Tsawwassen, CanadaCopyright Paul Miniato 1998.