No, Not Click Click Boom by Saliva, (Available here if you are feeling mislead)…Clique Clique Boom!

My first real encounter with the Political Clique in New Hampshire occurred on NH Insider.  It manifested itself as an idea from another blogger that the value of certain political opinions (mine, actually) are somehow limited because I am not a member of the class of persons who had specific, active civic experience.

I found this—at best amusing.  The narrow-minded notion that someone seeking to advance their political career would intentionally limit themselves to the bubble-think mentality of a closed (dare I say ideologically inbred) group of thinkers was patently absurd.  The fact that they put it in writing was, well, priceless. But then it is politics.

So, simply put, (after a broader, but decidedly impromptu investigation) there appears to be a small legion of elitists among us in New Hampshire who have neither the time nor inclination to listen seriously to the people who elect them.

Now this is not supposed to be surprising by any means.  We are all familiar with the lack of accountability further up the food chain, but at the local level New Hampshire is built on a government not just of the people, but literally by the people; your neighbors, friends, co-workers, and so on.  It’s very personal, and given that we have the most representative state government in the US, and I believe the third largest on the entire globe, it seems unusual for someone to cling to such a notion as elitist bubble-think.

But, when you consider the natural proclivities of mankind to gather about them wealth and power, it is not really all that hard to see where this could become a problem.  There have always been small towns, with small people, some with very small minds, thinking thoughts far too big for their tiny heads to hold.  And sometimes they will make for themselves a tiny dynasty inside these tiny crowded places, leaving very little room for anything you might have to say that endangers their tiny world.

Well,  I have a message for you who would engage actively as the voices of the people.  You are charged as advocates of nothing greater than the common interests of your electorate, if for no other reason than because you cannot attain your position by any other means than their will.  This does not make you beholden to every individual whim, but it does require you to accept that without their reasoned opinion—particularly of you—your value is at best fleeting.  Your membership could go Boom.   So you would be wise to acknowledge their counsel, to answer their questions with humility, and to respect them for the opportunity to govern which they have granted.

And if they don’t drive you insane, you may find yourself stronger for it.