A Letter to the Kids

November 20, 2016

Election Post Mortem—A Letter To The Kids

Over forty years ago, I returned to Chautauqua County from the Vietnam War and became involved in local politics. It started with a defeat in 1970 in a run for the New York State Assembly. After that, I was elected twice to the county legislature and then four times to the Assembly before leaving elected politics to become involved in the private sector. So I have experienced the “ups and downs” of our system of electing those who represent us in government. I also came to understand and respect the electorate and also to respect those who are willing to become involved in politics and run for public office.

Our democratic process will only work if citizens become involved, and if some of those citizens are willing to assume the responsibility of serving in public office. This last election campaign was not one of inspiration for younger generations of Americans, and so, after the election, I sent this letter to our four children.

“To the Kids:

You have already probably heard more than you need to about the election. In my view, the biggest casualty is probably the system itself. Who would want to run for President and endure the mud slog that we just went through?  Would you want to? Would you want one of your kids to?  The answer is probably “no.”

It made me think back to 1960. I was a Republican and a student at Houghton College. The concern then was that JFK was a Catholic and that if he were elected, the Pope would take over the U.S. government. Then, in fact, Kennedy did get elected, and the Pope didn’t take over. What we remember from that time now is the inaugural: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Out of that came the Peace Corps and lot of new recruits (like me) who got interested in government.

Compare that to what we just went through. “Lock her up!” “Drain the swamp!”  Who is going to be encouraged to give some time to government service after that? That is what concerns me most.

I hope that this past election doesn’t discourage members of our extended family from getting involved at some level in “giving back” through government service. We need people to run local governments, school districts and, maybe, here at the lake… sewer districts! I am sorry that our grandkids had to go through this ugly election. It is really better than that, and we need people involved as citizens. We are all shareholders in this corporation we call “America.”

So let’s not retreat into a cave and let somebody else deal with the problems. Maybe there is somebody out there who would make a good legislator, school board member, Assemblyman, Congressman… and who knows… President. This is America. What we need now is to have people “double down” and get involved!

Dad

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.