Can I just say, "What the #)%$U()???!!!???

Listen, I'm no different than anyone else (except in a couple of interesting ways that I'll not get into at the moment); I don't like to get subpoenas either. I mean really, who likes to get 1) an order from 2) the government 3) ordering you to do something that's almost no fun at all when you're already so busy. But, a subpoena is a subpoena and this is why God made lawyers. I say that with all affection and I mean it. This is precisely what lawyers are for.

So anyway, you'd think that after the past 7 years or so of the current administration essentially trampling on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights I'd be used to seeing someone in government thumb their nose at a lawful order. I mean, when the White House tells some of the government employees that work there that they can ignore a subpoena from the Congress; well, anything's possible.

Now, I know there are arguments about those White House guys enjoying executive privilege and therefore they don't have to talk about private conversations they had with the President, but a subpoena says you have to show up. One may or may not have to testify. This is why God made the 5th Amendment and why someone made up the whole "executive privilege" thing and someone else came up with a bunch of other alternatives to actually testifying. But, in my limited layman's understanding, when you get a subpoena you're supposed to obey the law and show up.

Now after, as I indicated earlier, 7-plus years of some pretty legally questionable behaviour, we might ought be used to it. But now, we have this whole investigation going on in Alaska around Governor Palin and her administration and subpoenas have been issued and people are saying they're going to ignore them. And I understand this is not an "executive privilege" kind of thing. This is, "I'm going to ignore this because I can and if you want me to show up, well, make me."

Oh, there's the usual "they're only doing this 1) to embarrass the governor; 2) because it's politically motivated; 3) and it's not even really a case." Of course, none of that matters. If the subpoenas were legally issued by a legal body allowed to issue subpoenas (I tried subpoenaing a lady once and she referred my name to a law enforcement bureau, but that's another story) and it was all done legally then they should at least show up. Again, this is why we have a legal system and lawyers. And incidentally, don't tell me you're all about law and order and system of government and justice and then announce to the world that you're going to ignore a subpoena. Mutually exclusive stuff, in my view.

So this is all very aggravating for me, but it brings up a larger point: what are people supposed to tell their kids about respect for the law and for law enforcement when leaders go out in public and tell the world that they're ignoring a subpoena. And telling me that most kids don't know what subpoena is or they don't understand the 5th Amendment or executive privilege is not an answer.

John Donne wrote: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." I know it says Europe, but insert "the United States" and it's still the same message. It's all connected. Our leaders can't go around breaking laws big and small and believe that their actions don't have implications for all of us.

Dang, but I'd love to have some leaders in this country who would demonstrate some integrity from time to time. They don't have to actually have any; they just need to demonstrate some.

I was for it, before I was...no, I've always been for it and I don't even know what it is

Politics is complicated. Either that, or it's really simple.

I know a guy who recently won an election by campaigning only to a small minority of people that he knew 1) voted in the last three elections; 2) lived within a few blocks of each other; and 3) could be counted on to show up at the polls and vote, presumably for him and not against him.

He didn't spend much money trying to "get his message out." He didn't spend a lot of time walking the precincts or going door-to-door and meeting the electorate. He bought a few direct mail pieces that he sent to the folks I mentioned in the first paragraph. And he won.

Now I like politics; I always have. Wait. Let me clarify: I like the idea of politics--the give and take, the wrestling of ideas, the articulation of policy and position. This is why I have a degree in Political Science. It's also why I don't run for office.

Running for office has nothing to do with any of those cool things I just mentioned. Running for office is about scaring people; telling them what a tool your opponent is; reminding them that you're just like them and your opponent isn't; and, promising them that if elected you'll do a lot of stuff for them that you have absolutely no ability to do. Makes you wonder why anyone would run.

I asked a guy who was running for office why he was running and he gave me some cockamaimy answer about wanting to serve or feeling like he had something to offer. So, I asked him how he was going to get anything done. Was he going to work with "the other side?" He blanched and then mumbled something about how he was going to get stuff done because there was stuff to be done and he was just the guy to do some stuff.

He didn't have a clue. But, he did get elected.

And that's the thing: no matter how much we hope for something higher than ourselves in our elected officials, the truth is it's just about getting elected. And getting elected is just about knowing how to do it. It's the reason they call it political science. There's a real science to knowing what levers to pull and buttons to push to garner more votes than your opponent. It's not about having the best ideas or being the most pragmatic and willing to work with people to get things done. It's about being able to work the process.

Whew. Man, did I just bum myself out.