Recycled Words

Don’t Fall in Love with Politicians

What did I learn in my time in government?

If you join government, calmly make your contribution and move on. Don’t go along to get along; do your best and when you have to—and you will—leave, and be something else.

Don’t fall in love with politicians, they’re all a disappointment. They can’t help it, they just are.

Beware of the politically obsessed. They are often bright and interesting, but they have something missing in their natures; there is a hole, an empty place, and they use politics to fill it up. It leaves them somehow misshapen.

If you must be with them consider this. There are, I think, two kinds of serious political activists: those who are impelled by love, and those who get their energy from hate. The ones moved by love—for America, for the poor, for freedom—often contribute to the debate. Those moved by hate—for liberals, for conservatives, for the rich, for America’s sins—make the process ugly. They cannot engage in honorable debate because they cannot see the honor on the other side. They are like diggers who will never reach the treasure because they’re too busy throwing the contents of their shovels at each other to get to the gold.

Peggy Noonan,

What I Saw At the Revolution