Hi, Folks -

On the one hand, it's good to see certain things that have long been hidden now being drawn forth into the light.

On the other hand, so many stories are coming up that it just makes me feel sad. It's like, "Dude, what were you thinking?" or "Who exactly do you think you are?"

And it's a double hit. Not only are the behaviors "something we just don't do here", but the duplicitousness, the two-facedness, the hypocrisy of the thing, is a big part of it, too.

Latest story gives a good example of that. A Republican state government representative in Ohio with a track record of being for family values and "anti-LGBT" in his policies is now resigning after it was found he had sex with a man in his office.

"Dude, what were you thinking?" I'd suppose as a public figure he was thinking there was no safer place he could do this - the guy is married to a woman, so probably he couldn't arrange to bring the man to his home; neither could he meet him in some other place "out in the world" without fear of paparazzi capturing something photographically. His office must have seemed to be "the safest place".

And then there's the whole matter of his public face being a complete opposite of his private face. I guess we shouldn't be surprised by that at this point, but, still...it just makes me feel sad. These are the people who are supposed to be looking out for us, not using us to get something they want for themselves.

A dear friend tells me that, among the Cherokee at least, the person actively seeking a specific position is recognized as the last one who should have it. There's no "running for office". Instead, the people look around and recognize and acknowledge who it should be.

That's doable where the community is small enough for everyone to know everyone else. Might be doable at larger scale, too, if everyone valued integrity more and if Media would report accurately and fairly. It's absurd, really, that "running for office" requires so much money, which in turn keeps good candidates from even becoming known to most of us.

Blessings.

--hobie

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