When Being "Grounded" Is Good.

So many things happened this past week it is difficult to figure out what to write about.  But, thanks to a visit this morning from our son-in-law and a discussion on why someone like former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia got into so much trouble, I have a topic!

One of the things I noticed during the eight years I was an elected official in a rather small, as far as population goes, county in California, was the way, as an elected official, I was treated.  Of course, the staff was very attentive because it was their job to be attentive to what I said or wanted, but the general public was very attentive as well.  Except for certain political circles of supposedly my own side which generally ignored me, wherever I went I was treated with great fawning.  My words were listened to with great attention; I was introduced with great acclaim, and generally made to feel as though I was a special person. 

Since most of my life I had been on the very bottom of the societal acceptance rung as a wife and mother, I found this sudden acclaim a little disturbing.  After all, once the votes were counted I was exactly the same person I had been prior to the count.  I had the same opinions which I had before and had generally been ignored; I was no more intelligent or knowledgeable than I had been before.  So why all of a sudden was I “someone”? After a few months it became apparent to me why.  Because I could be useful to people!  When this dawned on me, I made a rule that I would accept no more than a cup of coffee from anyone, anytime, or anyplace.  I paid my own way always.  It really amused me at how fast that information made the rounds of all constituencies.  But I needed to be “grounded” at all times in those principles that goaded me into running for office in the first place, and the simple act of paying my own way helped me to do that.  Also, keeping myself grounded in my faith tradition of justice, mercy, compassion and personal integrity helped tremendously.  I am not saying here that merely being a member of a faith community insures that someone will not go sour while in office, but it is necessary for office holders to keep themselves firmly grounded in whatever their own personal traditions that caused them to run for office were, unless, of course it was a desire for power!.  The office and some of its more questionable perks must not become the most important thing in one’s life!  And if this is true on the county level, it must be horrendous on the state and federal levels.  On those levels, it takes a special person to hold steady to his or her principles, otherwise it becomes easier and easier over time to believe that you are entitled to do or say anything you want to and, in the mind of the perpetrator, it is OK because you are a special person.

So, former Governor Bob McDonnell lost a promising future because he forgot that, “The love of money is the root of all evil”, one of the primary foundational sayings of his faith tradition.  And he obviously began to think he was an exceptional person and that the proper rules of the political game did not apply to him.  He is not the first politician to find that not true, nor will he be the last.