Hope: The vice and virtue in elections

Disregarding the student’s remarks, the professor proceeded to open his briefcase and removed a national newspaper. Holding high the newspaper to the class, he read the headlines, “Congress announces possible bailout for financial industry.” He went on to state that the elected congressional leaders were crafting a bailout package for the nation’s largest banks, rather than the middle and working-class who would need the bailout most. Hope, according to my professor, was misplaced in Congress’ ability to earnestly work on behalf of the American people.

To his credit, history confirms that he was correct. Congress provided a bailout for the nation’s largest banks that were primarily responsible for the financial crisis, while millions of Americans suffered the consequences — record-high unemployment rates, unprecedented levels of poverty and dim job prospects. I personally witnessed the nation’s elected officials grapple with the aftermath of that crisis as a staffer on Capitol Hill in the years that followed.

It is only one of many examples in which elected officials have let down millions of Americans who cast ballots in hopes that those elected leaders would remain true to their constituency. Time and time again, our elected officials have failed us. Make no mistake, human nature ensures us that it will happen again.

In the 2020 election cycle, I see the same unrealistic promises being flaunted among many presidential candidates. Whether it is presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ promising a host of government sponsored “free agendas” that are in fact very costly, or presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s promise to fix our nation by merely “taxing the rich,” we should be mindful not to misplace our hope in elected leaders alone.

Hope is most effective when channeled through individual, family and communitywide efforts. History tells us that people, not the government, are responsible for making possible ideals that started as mere hopes. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s that made possible the enforcement of fundamental rights you and I have today were spearheaded by community leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall and Malcolm X.

Likewise, the women’s suffrage movement and subsequent passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote is not attributed to federal government representatives or politicians. Such accomplishments are attributed to the efforts of middle and working-class individuals such as Sojourner Truth and school teachers such as Susan B. Anthony.

My point is that individuals just like you and I have made hopeful objectives and dreams become a reality in our nation without the assistance of elected government officials. Ordinary individuals make possible what federal elected officials cannot every day, such as volunteering at food shelters, mentoring at-risk youth and proudly serving in our nation’s armed forces. Our society’s morale would quickly diminish if were to blindly place our hope in elected officials, attractive slogans, popular gimmicks and wishful promises.

I do not suggest that it is wrong to confide our hope in elected officials to some extent. Rather, I suggest our hope should first be placed in our own individual efforts and our collective communities. After all, you and I are often most capable of addressing and bringing awareness to the challenges facing our personal lives and communities.

A native of Pacifica, Jonathan Madison worked as professional policy staff for the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, from 2011-2013. Jonathan currently works as an attorney and can be reached via email at jonathanemadison@gmail.com.