Political Silence

I was at a picnic last weekend for Gleaner Life Insurance Society. They are a non-profit company that sells life insurance and annuities and channels the profit into charitable branches to help the community. They establish local chapters that are called Arbors that perform community service and look for opportunities to help those in need. There is a close relationship with the 4H, an Arbor Day celebration, and even a national biannual convention to elect officers. Each Arbor member also summarizes their individual acts of charity such as coaching little league, teaching Sunday school or taking meals to shut-ins. It is a great way to give back to the community. The President of the company, and the board of directors all attend this picnic, serve the chicken, meet and greet all of the attendees, and basically make all of their certificate holders feel special. It is an amazing thing.

One of the many things the Arbors do is present scholarships for students that are working toward a degree after high school. At this picnic, the scholarship recipients attended and were given the award. One of the students was majoring in political science but as the president of Gleaner announced their name, he called it political silence. The crowd got a chuckle and I realized that it actually makes sense. America would be a much better place if we had political silence. If we could eliminate the attempts by our elected officials to bad mouth everyone they dislike or stop trying to cast their opponents in a bad light, it would be a more enjoyable existence. We all know that it will not happen.

Now I wanted to do more than make a political commentary. I can actually tie this into one of the topics I wanted to review, The Dark Ages. The term the Dark Ages refers to the period in European History after the last Emperor of the Roman Empire 476AD and the year 1000AD. The term comes from the historian Petrarch, around the year 1450. He thought the period was dark, which in Christian terms means evil or bad. He was referring to the lack of a solid central government and felt that the Roman Empire would once again rise to provide the shining light of solid governmental order. I, like Petrarch, are waiting for a government that is looking out for their citizens but as a realist, I know that it does not exist. My ideal government would be one of political silence. Men and women joined in minimizing governmental interference and promoting a solid moral presence. Yea right, that’s going to happen. Oh for the days of yore when you could look back on what you thought was good and just and want it again. I for one am not in favor of resurrecting the Roman Empire. I could be wrong.

Icool

Cobb