By Idaho Representative Steve Berch
I’ve knocked on nearly 40,000 doors and spoke with tens of thousands of people from across the political spectrum in my district. This experience has taught me that:
- Good ideas and good people come from all directions.
- Most people want to vote for the person – but they never get to meet the person.
What people want more than agreement on all the issues all the time is: respect.
It has also helped me understand the difference between a typical politician and a true statesman.
A typical politician tends to only represent the people who vote for them. A statesman strives to represent and work for everyone in their constituency regardless who they voted for. It means you respect those good ideas – no matter where they come from – by incorporating them into the work you do.
It’s easier to act like a typical “politician” these days:
- Inflame emotions with false and misleading messages to win votes.
- Make decisions based on what you want to believe is true, instead of doing the due diligence to know what is true.
- Tell voters what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
It’s more difficult to be a true statesman:
- Work to bring people together and listen for points of agreement, instead of arguing over disagreement.
- Build a consensus among colleagues to tackle difficult issues. It takes patience, compromise, and good listening skills to resolve major issues.
- Have the courage to make decisions that may not be popular in the short term, but necessary to secure a beneficial long-term outcome.
- Be more concerned about achieving results than getting the credit.
The road toward becoming a statesman starts by knocking on doors throughout the year – every year, not just a month or two before Election Day. It requires talking one-on-one with a broad spectrum of one’s constituency. You learn the issues that really affect people’s daily lives. You learn to treat people with civility in both word and deed. You become a better public servant and a better person.
Unfortunately this road is less traveled. It is discouraging to see bills promoting ideological purity that divides people and punishes those who disagree. It is dangerous when legislators give credibility to false and misleading information in an effort to curry favor with voters – or party bosses. We wind up with a government that avoids accountability, ignores what it doesn’t want to hear, and believes the ends justify the means.
There is a path forward. Voters need to know who the people on their ballot really are. Ask yourself:
- Do they make it easy to contact them directly?
- Do they make the effort to earn your vote, or do they take it for granted?
- Do they work to represent you, or are they asked to sign a loyalty oath to a party platform written by political insiders?
If you want more statesmen and fewer politicians writing the laws you have to live by, vote for the person – not just a letter.