Our boys, Huck and Finn, were cretins when they were younger. They fought constantly, their amped bodies coursing with the hormones of the aggrieved. When the huff, the insults, the shoves veered toward swings, we’d send them to the basement to “work it out.” That’s where the boxing gloves were.
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They’d grab the gloves and proceed to pummel the very fiber out of their scrawny, almost-man bodies with a Peaky Blinders fervor, a violence of which I never want to know. Over the years, there’s been shattered glass, holes in the wall, blood on the carpet and a couple of projectile teeth.
I thought of offering the basement and its gloves to Gov. Mark Gordon and Secretary of State Chuck Gray last week when, at a meeting of the State Board of Land Commissioners, Gordon asked Gray to step outside, a crucible, a once-and-for-all smackdown after years of Gray’s taunts and Gordon’s temper.
Our boxing gloves are dusty, the boys, now matured. At the height of their poor behavior, Huck and Finn were in middle school. Gray and Gordon are not.
Gentlemen, please. The manner in which Gordon, Gray and other leaders conduct themselves reflects a sorry view of our government institutions. Last week’s episode of Leaders Behaving Badly further erodes public confidence in our elected officials. We should expect more.
The compost pile has been plenty fertile. On Easter morning, where Christians drop to our knees and celebrate the One who embodies humility, kindness and compassion, Donald Trump dropped the F-bomb, praised Allah, and promised Iranian soldiers and civilians alike, “you’ll be living in Hell.” Two days later he threatened a “whole civilization will die,” an appalling negotiation tactic. Weeks earlier, upon the passing of Robert Mueller, former Director of the FBI and U.S. Attorney, one who spent a lifetime as a public servant, Trump said, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.”
Some may have thought his respective comments funny. Some may have agreed. Some might have looked away. But that should never be us.
Remember when public officials were role models? They rose above the chicanery, too serious to engage in chest-thumping disputes. They were discerning, they could separate the wheat from the chaff.
Now, not so much. So long as we continue to place people in office who devalue public service, “deplorable” best describes our resting state. By celebrating the death of Mueller, Trump devalues public servants (he is chief among them) and the institutions they serve. Mueller served both country and government. He was a Marine who served during the Vietnam War. His chest was plated with awards of valor, including a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He was politically colorblind and answered the call of presidents, Democrat and Republican alike.
Mueller did not need to serve. He easily could have avoided public scrutiny and, toward the end of his life, death threats stemming from his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He could have profited handsomely in the private sector. He did not. Instead, he chose to serve.
I am not glad he is dead.
Wyoming has a similar history of good and faithful servants. Govs. Stanley Hathaway and Ed Herschler, to name two, exemplified keen intellect, courage and vision. Hathaway was a Republican, unafraid to support unpopular policies for the benefit of future generations. Though politically risky, Hathaway saw taxes as a path for sustainable growth and endorsed the Democrats’ push to include a tax on exports and created the Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund, the funding mechanism that keeps the wheels on our state government ad infinitum. That trust fund also funds the Hathaway Scholarship, which has enabled thousands of Wyoming students to attend college, a significant portion of whom are first-generation college graduates.
Herschler was a Democrat at a time when Wyomingites judged candidates on the content of their decisions, not the color of their party. A hallmark of Herschler’s term was a legacy of accessibility and connection with his constituents. He encouraged public discourse, telling a reporter, “I think the people are entitled to know [what I’m doing] and I do my very best to answer.”
Hathaway and Herschler took their obligation to the public seriously. Oh, to press reset on our slumping expectations and raise the tide of decorum. Contrast Herschler’s genteel interaction with Wyomingites to Rep. Hageman’s recent town halls. Variously described as “divisive,” “explosive,” and “hostile,” Hageman’s town halls are a reflection of a citizenry at its swampiest. There, Hageman presides, a detached empress gloating down upon her heckling commoners. She pouts, parries shout with shout.
When she’s exhausted her repertoire of MAGA sound bites, she retreats. Rather than accept responsibility for the heated exchange with her constituents, the temperature of which she controls, she blames the audience, holding them solely accountable for the “embarrassing spectacle of manufactured political theater.”
Where is the grown-up in the room? Until our leaders carry themselves with the gravity of the office for which they hold, we drift further from one another, our confidence in our leaders evaporating.
Be better, Trump, Gordon, Gray, Hageman. Perhaps a round in the basement might clarify and remind our public servants of their weighty obligation to their constituents and the manner in which we expect them to conduct themselves.
In the meantime, the gloves lay dormant, ready for the next round.
