OPINION: Politics needs decent, everyday people to lead, not internet celebrities and hucksters

Recent events in North Carolina, including a deadly hurricane, prove how serious leadership can be. We need hard-working candidates for public office who are in it for the right reasons, not con artists.

The last few days in North Carolina are a head-turning study in contrast. 

For weeks, we’ve had Mark Robinson, a candidate for governor, making embarrassing headlines across our state.

And in the last few days, as we wrap our minds around the devastation in western North Carolina, we are beginning to hear the stories of friends and neighbors delivering in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. 

In that context, I’ve been thinking a lot about something my dad once told me. 

A humble, hard-working guy, who thinks that politics and politicians should simply make our life easier, he said: “The people you want to run for office, the people with the character to be a great leader — they won’t.” 

Is there something about our current political environment that allows the hucksters and exhibitionists to thrive? 

Too many of us agree with my dad. More than half of Americans believe candidates run for political office for the wrong reasons, such as money or fame, according to a Pew poll from last year. 

Or is there something about our current political environment that allows the hucksters and exhibitionists to thrive? 

Fed by algorithms and a 24-hour news cycle, contemporary politics are often about showmanship, not substance. Candidates and elected officials spar over personal insults, not policy, cutting and recutting videos of their best jabs. Tweets and posts, memes, and catchy, rude nicknames provide us with cheap partisan entertainment and encourage us to root, blindly, for our team. Truthfully, some of it is amusing — you’d have to be a saint to not at least chuckle. 

But this environment cheapens our candidates and rewards the worst of us instead of the best. That’s why the recently-indicted mayor of New York City won that city’s Democratic primary, which determines the ultimate winner, with just 21% of those eligible casting a ballot. And it’s also why someone like Mark Robinson can be the Republican Party’s nominee for governor even though his only qualification for becoming North Carolina’s lieutenant governor was a viral video.

Earlier this week my neighbor lamented “Where do they find these guys?” while scrolling through the newsfeed detailing all the salacious–and truly embarrassing– details about North Carolina’s latest candidate expose. He’s disappointed– and he should be. There are real things, from schools to housing to wages, that he wants to see addressed.

So, is my dad right? Will good leaders really not run? Should my neighbor give up on thinking someone might, for once, govern for him? I don’t think so. 

We are surrounded by people who would make great leaders in our everyday lives. Many of them haven’t set out to run for office, but are demonstrating all the skills and commitments necessary to excel.

They’re the people who are putting in the work — going to PTA meetings, organizing food drives– to serve our communities, no fame or viral moments needed. They are already actively engaged in their communities, putting up the chairs after a neighborhood meeting and serving lemonade at their church picnic. They’re helping their neighbor right now after the storm, even though their homes and lives have been turned upside down as well. 

They listen and learn from the people around them, sit through city council meetings, and check in with their neighbors. They are connected to their community, choosing to live in and navigate the real world and not just online. 

We are surrounded by people who would make great leaders in our everyday lives.

These Americans are not rare birds, but actually very common. They are, in fact, much like my neighbor. Or my dad. 

If we asked these natural leaders to run, no one would wonder where we found them. They wouldn’t need to perform theatrics for name recognition, because we’d already know who they are. We’d already trust them. 

The good news is, thousands of people like this are on your ballot this election season. These everyday people– our neighbors– are doing the unglamorous work of running for school board, county commission, town council, and soil and water commissioner. Take the time to look at their races and what they are offering to your community, and skip the news cycle to cast a vote their way. 

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton is a North Carolina writer and organizer writing about race, class, gender and politics in the South. Why do you think more good people don’t run for office? Write us at [email protected]. This column is syndicated by Beacon Media.