Channeling Reagan on Filing Day

Me & President Reagan

Well, after six years being out of politics, last Thursday I jumped back into the fire.  I filed to run in the Republican primary for county commissioner.  It was a position I had been approached about four years ago when we moved out of town and back into my old stomping grounds.  Where it will go-I have no idea.  It's a five-way race....so I guess I have a 20% chance.

I like those odds.

After I got back from filing someone jumped me and claimed I had picked February 6 because it was Ronald Reagan's birthday.  Can't say I had thought of that...but sure, why not.  Reagan was my absolute inspiration for engaging in politics at a young age.  While today I don't know that I would agree with all of his policies, it certainly is true that he inspired a nation burdened in a state of malaise to be something better and stronger.  "Some people would say America's best days are behind her, well, I believe they're still ahead."

That's right.  The gleaming, golden city on a hill.

Talk about inspiring.

Last Fall, my wife and I headed to one of our favorite vacation spots, Galena, Illinois.  We typically take the scenic route, which this time led us through Dixon, Illinois.  What's so great about Dixon?  Why, it is Reagan's boyhood home.  So, we jumped on the signed "Reagan Trail" which steered the car onto a side street right in front of Reagan's boyhood home.  I didn't want to make my wife go through the boredom and visiting the museum, but I did stand and contemplate at the feet of the Gipper-where she snapped this shot.  If you think this is bad, you should have seen the shrine I had built in my studio space in architecture school.

Ronald Reagan's boyhood home in Dixon, IL

I grew up surrounded by Republicans-home, work, church, school, family.  Only my great aunt was not-but a more fiscally conservative elected official I've yet to meet.  And so I just figured if I stayed the course, worked hard and climbed the political ladder I would be contributing to my party, and my community in the best possible way.  Returning home after college I set into motion doing just that.  The problem was that I applied a set of skills I find sorely missing in most political debates-that of critical thinking.  And what I realized is that often it wasn't about what was best for people, or the community.  And I just couldn't accept that as ok.  Not as a person of faith.  And that's when things took an ugly turn.

I'm terribly fiscally conservative.  I think I got that from my aunt.  But I found that if you disagree with, well, usually just a person-not necessarily a set of ideals-you find yourself at odds with the whole party.  And that just seems lame.  Worse yet is when you know there are motives not all-together legitimate that goes into the decisions.  I don't have to agree with everything my party, or more specifically, a handful of folks do.  You have to think for yourself, bring what you have to the table, and make decisions based on good judgement and what's best for everyone involved.  That's what governing is.