Perspective of the trust we hold

Remarks of John Andrews, Colorado Senate Minority Leader
2002 Legislative Session Opening Day – January 9

There’s just one word I hope you would remember from my comments today – just the one word – PERSPECTIVE. A good way to keep perspective is to take the long view, so let me call three witnesses from the pages of history – KOA radio’s legendary Pete Smythe – America’s second president, John Adams – and ancient Israel’s King David.

Pete Smythe, of course, was the self-proclaimed Mayor of East Tincup, Colorado, and in that capacity he commanded more cracker-barrel cowboy wisdom than Sen. Chlouber and Sen. Isgar put together.

If you asked Pete about a political deal that seemed too good to be true, he might say, "Never put down your gun to hug a grizzly."

If you asked him about the interest groups at budget time, he’d say, "Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut."

If you asked him about talking a bill to death at this microphone, he’d say, "Never miss a good chance to shut up."

My point is that perspective means always being able to laugh at ourselves. Let’s remember that for the next 120 days.

John Adams held the thankless job of Vice President under George Washington, then became President and led our young nation through its first undeclared war. In a letter to his wife Abigail, he wrote this:

"I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography [and] natural history…commerce and agriculture -- in order to give their children a right to study paintings [and] poetry, music [and] architecture…"

Let’s keep the Adams perspective and remember that what we do here is done for the long future, for generations unborn. We 35 senators are trustees of something precious. The easy times of peace and prosperity are only a memory right now, but if we keep our trust, we can help bring them round again.

We should make a virtue of necessity in this tight budget year by finding ways for government to operate leaner and still deliver good service.

We should make sure our state is doing everything possible to support Operation Enduring Freedom, the counterattack against global terrorism.

Several weeks ago, Sens. Gordon, Hanna, Lamborn, and I were together in Jerusalem, where we felt surprisingly at home. There too, contentious democracy and courage in the face of terror are facts of daily life.

I thought of King David, a great ruler in that city and a great servant of God, author of the Book of Psalms. One of the psalms gives a vision of ideal government when it says: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

Just imagine, as we legislate during this session, if both the work we do and the way we do it could be always truthful and at the same time always merciful. Imagine if we could argue our positions righteously and yet treat each other peaceably.

Imagine if we never, ever kidded ourselves that the end justifies the means, or that winning is more important than honor, or that anything is more important than people – individual human beings in God’s image.

That would be real perspective. That would be real public service. Why not make it our standard for this year?

Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director, (360) 956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org