Wanderings – The ideal political candidate does exist

I don’t know about you, but it feels to me like we are in a perpetual election mode. It could be the constant drone of TV and online media churning out low-hanging fruit stories about candidates and leaders. Or it could be that we tend to see more of other area’s politics as it happens.

The connected world as it is lets us watch the UK election, or follow along with the slow-moving dumpster fire that is the US Presidential race. Change the channel and we can watch Canadian political leaders throw the lessons of Jack Layton out the window, or politicians talk about putting a beer in every fridge, when some would rather have a chicken in every pot.

Local politics offers the exact opposite, with streamed meetings reminding me of the teacher from the Peanuts TV specials. No wonder Peppermint Patty couldn’t focus in class.

I feel that the biggest issues really aren’t getting the attention that they should, and by attention I mean action. Sure, you can announce a strategy, but when a strategy takes a decade to implement – is it still a strategy? Or is it busy work to get re-elected?

Working in media, we’re not suppose to support individual candidates when there are elections called. Many journalists do not even vote in elections. Some go to the poll and spoil their ballot, or in the case of Ontario elections, decline their ballot. It shows participation but not favouring one candidate or party over another. That unwillingness to support a candidate or party is not just at the ballot box, but includes things like lawn signs and so on.

This does not mean that journalists don’t have opinions about politics. Regular readers should have a good clue as to my stance on many things. One day though, a few elections ago, I tried to think of who would make the ideal political candidate. Not one specific person, but the ideal embodiment of what traits I would want a successful candidate to have, regardless of the level of government they ran for. It took a while, but I figured it out.

During that election, I put out a campaign sign for this ideal candidate – it was well worth the $20 it cost me for the sign. I’m surprised someone didn’t abscond it one night.

This ideal candidate is someone who would never give anyone up, nor would they let anyone down. They’d stay true to their ideals and not run around or desert their supporters. This candidate would never make anyone cry, or say goodbye, tell a lie, or hurt anyone.

Sounds too good to be true, but that ideal candidate, even wrote a song about himself. It’s been around since 1987. Yes, it’s Rick Astley.

For those who do not recognize the name, Rick Astley is a largely one-hit wonder singer from the 80s. His hit single, “Never gonna give you up” topped the charts in 1987. It was resurrected into a popular internet gag where a person would send another a random link, that forwarded the viewer to the song’s music video on YouTube.com. The term is called Rickrolling.

In an interview many years later, Astley said the internet gag didn’t bother him. I suspect it wouldn’t as his music is receiving fractional royalties every time someone clicks on the link and views the video.

Back to his appeal as a candidate, Astley’s lyrics say it all: he isn’t going to quit or let us down; he isn’t going to run around or run away; he isn’t going to make us cry, say goodbye, tell a lie, or hurt you.

What more can you ask from a candidate? Nothing, in my opinion.