OPINION Where have all the statesmen gone?

ROSLYN RYAN Editor

Not long ago, having fallen down some sort of interminable internet rabbit hole, I came across a message board where someone had asked what the difference was between a politician and a statesman.

Many of those responding were quick to offer the oft-repeated quote that has been attributed to everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Hillary Clinton: “The difference between a politician and a statesman,” they said, “is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.”

Were you to point out that statesmen appear to be in short supply these days, you would not be alone. In fact, a Google search

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Officials must be held accountable for abuse of power

As I read the letters from 3/1/2023, I’m disappointed that an Electoral Board member and Board of Supervisor, continue to spread misinformation and discriminatory rhetoric. First to address Electoral Board Chair Pam Johnson’s letter:

There is not a greater risk of danger to students when schools implement inclusive bathroom of the phrase “Where have all the statesmen gone?” turns up nearly a dozen different web hits. People, it seems, are longing for something they feel is missing from today’s political landscape. From where this writer sits, they have a point. Having covered local government for nearly two decades, I have certainly born witness to the actions of people I would consider statesmen. But I have also seen the same type of self-aggrandizing, nasty, unethical behavior that we have all become more and more accustomed to seeing at the national level. What naturally follows, when people note that statesmen seem to be a dying breed, is the question of why. What happened? Did the job change the people or did the people change the job?

The answer, of course, is yes.

While the roles and responsibilities of elected officials have changed over the years, so it seems have the values of our society as a whole. While grandstanding, dog-whistling and playing fast and loose with the facts have always been part of politics in some form or fashion, they now often seem inseparable from it.

Was it really so long ago that John McCain defended Barack Obama, at the time his rival in the 2008 presidential race, when several of McCain’s supporters called Obama a liar and a terrorist.

“I want to fight, and I will fight,” McCain said. “But I will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, and I will respect him.”

I won’t print the text of it here, but if you are looking for an example of what a statesman looks like away from the public eye, go ahead and look up the letter that outgoing president George H.W. Bush left for Bill Clinton, the man who defeated him in the 1992 election.

The idea of a wise, magnanimous leader living a virtuous life beyond reproach is, of course, a fantasy. Even the most venerated of our political heroes have had a skeleton or two in their closets, or at least a few questionable habits.

No, there are no perfect people, and politicians will always outnumber statesmen.

Let’s just hope there never comes a day when those qualities that make a true leader are relegated to the past, and all of us are left longing for what once was.