We don’t often meet national politicians, regardless of political party, who actually act like public servants.
It’s maddening to listen to them deliver scripted talking points meant to obfuscate rather than answer questions meant to illuminate. The whole point of being a politician is to represent the people (or so we are told), and the whole point of political reporting is to let the people know exactly what it is their representatives are up to. However you may feel about the current state of journalism, it’s difficult to debate the importance of a free press.
In an ideal world, the politician would want the public to understand proposed legislation or orders, the objective pros and cons, and the journalist would verify and report what she or he learned in the clearest, most concise way possible. What is better for democracy than a fully and honestly informed society? But that’s not the way it works. Politicians and their surrogates are in the business of trying to shape the narrative in a way that benefits them and damages their opponents. Good journalists – and there are many – know the game and excel at finding the shards of truth amid the many layers of verbal garbage.
We’ve always assumed that our frustration with the politician’s charade was largely based on a natural aversion to inauthenticity and manipulation. But then Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said something in the Washington Post over the weekend that turns out to be the real source of our exasperation. He said: “The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.” He actually called the American people “customers.”
As Stephen Colbert put it: “We’re not customers. We’re citizens, which means we own the store. You work for us, buddy.”
That’s what a lot of Republican and Democratic politicians alike don’t seem to understand and haven’t for a long time – or maybe ever. Elected officials don’t work for their president, their party leaders or those who pay for their campaigns. They work for the people, plain and simple. So plain and simple, in fact, that it feels silly to make the point. But the reminder seems necessary.
Here are two questions: If you, the voters, are in charge of this Republic (which you are), why wouldn’t you demand the truth from those elected to represent you, whether you voted for them or not? Secondly, if a politician tells you the free press is lying, why would you assume he or she is telling the truth?
You are the bosses of the Republic, not customers. It’s time to start acting like it.