Rosy Glow – The High Road to Humility

By

Andrew DeMarco

Those of you who know me know that I enjoy doing cryptograms. The other day, I came across one which is very apropos considering today’s political environment and with election day just around the corner it is something we should consider. The quote is attributed to former Senator Alan Simpson in his eulogy of former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral:

“Those who travel the high road of Humility in Washington, are not bothered by heavy traffic.”

If the Beltway which encircles Washington is the high road and is any barometer or indication of this in a symbolic way, there is certainly no humility or very little of it in Washington. It seems the longer one is entrapped in what is the traffic jam that is Washington, the less humble one becomes. The proof is in those who have served there the longest as it seems that many think they are entitled to be there and the sad part is they keep getting re-elected. This lack of humility is not limited to one side of the aisle or the other as it is a disease which infects a vast majority of our elected officials.

They all arrive in Washington traveling that high road with great hopes and aspirations, but then they soon get caught up in the traffic jam which is the Washington Beltway mentality and lose sight of the high road. Those who remain on the high road, a rarity and hard to find, soon get marginalized, by speed bumps and bureaucratic red tape and threats from friend and foe alike and end up relegated to a rest area on that highway. They maintain their humility but find it more difficult to accomplish what they set out to do for, We the People.

They all seem to think that the rules that they establish for us do not apply to them and this has become even more obvious in this time of Covid-19. It gets to the point where they feel they know what is best for us instead of truly listening to their constituents.

So how does one humble these rubberneckers of the traffic jam that is Washington? I don’t think term limits is the answer because these types would just move on to a higher office or find high paying consulting jobs in the private sector and use their former offices to influence others. The only way to humble them is by having them experience the agony of defeat. You vote them out of office and hopefully the rejection of not being wanted will be humbling. Somehow, I doubt it but we can only hope. Hopefully, so humbling that they will have used up any influence they once had and would not be a factor in politics. Let them spend time writing their memoirs on their once powerful yet stalled life.

As we come down the home stretch of this crazy 2020 year and the Presidential election campaign, let us all remember that no matter which side you are on it is “We the People” that will and should always travel the high road of humility and remind those we chose that they should be even more humbled by the fact that we are the ones who chose them. Not only should they listen to their constituents and the will of the people, they should maybe follow our example.   We should constantly remind them of this and not only in election years. This I am sure would give us all that feeling that Cousin Bob would call that…..Rosy Glow!