The subject has been burning hole in my psyche for a week now.  Well, longer than that, I suppose.  Aspects of it have been simmering for a few decades, but now that the two most notable politicians in the country at the moment have stirred the pot the bubbles have risen once again and the steam must escape.

Last week’s 7/21/08 edition of The Weekly Standard had an article that caused the overflow.  In an article titled Self-Interest Is Bad?, Andrew Ferguson wrote his lead paragraph:

Oh, terrific. Now we have two of them–two presidential candidates, presumptive nominees of their respective parties, who insist they will not rest until they have inspired all of us stick-in-the-mud Americans to reach celestial heights of personal fulfillment by committing ourselves to a life of service. Service to what? Service to .  .  . something or other. The phrase that both John McCain and Barack Obama use is a “cause higher than yourself” or “greater than self” or alternatively a “cause greater than your own self-interest.” Whatever the precise wording–for now, let’s just use an unpronounceable acronym, CGTYOSI–we’ll be hearing it a lot till November.

DAMN, Mr. Ferguson nailed it.  I’ve had it with the sanctimonious preaching by these two politicians.  Screw ‘em.

Look, you two guys couldn’t be less in touch with what’s going on at the street level if you tried.  You and your millions of dollars, surrounded by the beltway that suffocates any realism that attempts to penetrate, and advised by idealistic pedagogues who would just as soon be princes and princesses as staffers, no more in touch that you are, well guys, you have no clue about the amount of thinking outside oneself that is going on in this country. 

So, stop the damned lectures.  Stop telling the people of this country to begin doing what they are already doing.  There are plenty of people thinking outside themselves these days, and of course I’m assuming you don’t really expect 100 percent of the population to totally give themselves over full-time to “a life of service.”  After all, if we are all spending our lives in service, you won’t have funds to write those big federal checks to freeloaders in this country and beyond.  Volunteers, those in service, don’t make much, you know, and therefore won’t be paying taxes, so what’s your fiscal plan for what happens when your Utopian world of all volunteers comes to fruition?

You’re just not in touch enough, not aware enough, to know and to preach.  But then that is not exactly a surprise to me because your Washington brethren are largely in the same boat of ignorance that is certainly not limited to this subject.  

In case you hadn’t noticed, and apparently you haven’t, there is a hell of a lot of service going on. 

To begin with, we have been sustaining an all-volunteer military force for decades.  That in spite of the flagrant lack of Congressional support, broken promises of benefits, and commitments that stretch military members’ dedication beyond reasonable limits.  Yet, they serve.  And they re-enlist to do it again. 

Those military members are part of a package deal, too.  How many organizations are collecting and distributing all sorts of items, at their own cost of time and funds, to military members in Afghanistan and Iraq?  How much volunteer support is there here stateside?  Having served only a few months short of thirty years in military service I can tell you that there has always been a lot of support by those who ask little, not even a thank you, for their efforts. 

When I was in Vietnam I got letters from school children and packages from strangers.  Our troops today enjoy the same level of support and then some.  It’s been that way all along, a fact that you, Senator McCain, should damned well know.  On the other hand, you were a flying officer, a true minority in the military.  I guess you didn’t have an ear to the ground then, either.  And yes, I recognize and respect your heroic efforts during your captivity.  I’d vote to nuke any part of the former North Vietnam today if I had the chance.  Your experience there does not exempt you from street-level ignorance, however.   

And Senator McCain, you were a part of the government that reduced assistance to communities and forced many forms of community assistance to the levels of the common citizenry.  Churches and other groups suddenly began to necessarily shoulder the load of programs previously handled by government.  Senator Obama, are you ignorant of what volunteers in churches such as yours do all over the country?  Important aspects of community life would not be possible without them.

Just who the hell do you two think performs all that work?  How much do you think those people are paid?  Do you think there are extra hours in their days to make room for all that work without sacrificing their personal and family time?  You don’t have a clue.  No partisan stuff here.  BOTH of you are clueless.   

I read an article only a few days ago and it showed a graph of youth involvement in sports over the past several years.  The numbers have been going up every year and there seems to be no reason they will not continue to do so.  Do you have any idea who makes that happen? 

Yes, there are paid teachers and coaches in the school systems, but for every one of them there are scores of others who are not paid.  They donate their precious time, and their own money, to ensure the success of youth sports programs all over the country.  How many of this year’s Olympic athletes do you think have benefited at some point by volunteer efforts before they began the “pay for play” system of Olympic preparation?

As I type this there are approximately 10,000 young athletes at the AAU Junior Olympics in Detroit.  Does either of you realize that many of the people who make it possible pay their own transportation to get there and are away from home for the duration, for the sole purpose of making that event a success for our youth?  Go to the AAU and USATF web sites and look at the number of sports events going on all over the country and imagine how many volunteers it takes to put them all on. 

Have you ever looked at soccer, baseball, and football fields on weekends?  Who are the coaches and officials?  I’ll tell you who they are in one word — VOLUNTEERS. 

Every summer I watch volunteers spending hours and days of their time lugging water containers and equipment, slathering on sunscreen lotions by the bottle, in heat index conditions of 108 and higher, so our youth can run, jump and throw and do their best at it.  All for a T-shirt and maybe a lunch.  Sometimes they even get a thank you, but not always.

Parents help not only their own youth but also those of other parents.  They car pool to local events and they provide transport and chaperon services to events away from home.  This, too costs time and money, and is not without risk.  Do they count in your view of the lazy society we seem to be accused to sustaining?   

Have you considered the emergency/disaster services provided by volunteer groups?  Do you realize they train and equip before the disasters happen?  Volunteers.  Time.  Money.

Get your head out of your ass.

I admit to not understanding how people can think either of you is a good public speaker.  You are insulting a hell of a lot of people.  You ignorantly slap us in the face and ask for our vote.  Incredible.

Mr. Ferguson put it very well in his article: 

Condescension lies behind the call to a CGTYOSI. Why does a candidate feel compelled to exhort his nation to a higher cause, especially a cause that’s purposely left gauzy and undefined? He reveals a low opinion of his countrymen by doing so. He implies a population lost in self-absorption and narcissism, each member ignoring others in pursuit of selfish ends. It takes a lot of nerve to say that, even by insinuation–and since Obama and McCain want to make it personal, let’s do.

Earlier this spring, Obama said that in the last year he had spent scarcely any time at his Chicago home, where his wife is trying to rear his young daughters, both under ten years old. He was away from his job in Washington nearly as often, so he could travel around the country cultivating wealthy people who would help finance his run for president. Likewise, for 25 years John McCain has kept his wife and growing children back in Arizona, while he stayed in Washington and, on weekends, traveled to political events, shaking hands, giving speeches, raising money, and otherwise making himself the center of attention. In both cases they do look like men pursuing their self-interest and ignoring causes greater than themselves–the rearing of their children, for example, and the careful attending to their less glamorous professional obligations.

Candidates don’t seek office by insulting the voters, of course. It’s hard to imagine a candidate running on a promise to Bring Change that a Nation of Slackers and Thumbsuckers Like You Can Believe In. But the implication is there nonetheless, and if the sly insult doesn’t offend voters, it’s because they think it’s directed at everyone but themselves. Very few people believe that they’re pursuing selfish ends exclusively, or that they need a big, rhetorical goosing from their elected officials to get up and do the right thing. But with a little persuasion, people can be made to think that other people need a goosing.

Let me add also that if either of you manages to shame someone into volunteering his or her services, I don’t want them beside me.  Guilt, especially undeserved or misplaced guilt, is a lousy reason to serve and it will eventually show in performance, or lack of it. 

I’d much prefer to have beside me those who are there for the right reasons.  If it happens to be youth sports, I’d prefer to work with another volunteer who is there for the athletes.  Yes, I’d prefer to work my volunteer time with someone else who is content to work for a T-shirt.

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Two clowns in the Beltway ring, trying to act like preachers.

For a lot of us your act stinks. 

We deserve better than either of you.

A LOT better.