Wisdom from Molly Ivins
Sep 25th, 2003 by mark
Last night Michele and I had the great good fortune to attend a talk given by columnist Molly Ivins. It was invigorating to be in the company of so many like minded people. Ms. Ivins’ talk was at times funny, at time serious. But through out her message was clear: we, the ordinary citizens of the United States are the owners of this country. The elected officials in Washington are just the hired help.
Some tidbits from her talk:
Good mothers will make the best politicians. They know what to do when there are two children on only one cookie. They also know how to handle two children fighting in the back seat. Most of the this nation’s problems and be reduced to one of those two paradigms.
You should have fun above all else when involved in politics. Otherwise you’ll get burnt out long before accomplishing your goal.
Decisions aren’t made by the best or brightest people, but by the ones who show up. Don’t think your vote or voice doesn’t count, it does.
Campaign finance reform shouldn’t be about limiting soft money, but rather about energizing donations from regular citizens so that campaigns can be run without ties to special interests.
As a relative new-comer to the whole politically active scene I was inspired by hearing Ms. Ivins talk in plain English about our political process. I think the most important new understanding for me was learning what it felt like to be among a group of people who are all motivated and headed in the same direction.
As Ms. Ivins would say, “get out there and raise some hell.”
