We Whos Down in Whoville

This morning, I want to salute those of us in “Fly-Over Country.” Yep, that’s what television personalities and political personages call us and, sadly, it is often what they think of us. We are just the area of the country in the middle of this great land, best viewed from the air, largely unnoticed and unimportant until an election year. Sometimes, our voices seem to be as inaudible as the Whos down in Whoville, from the unforgettable children’s story, Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. Seuss.

We are the ones who hold this Nation together. We are the ones who get up in the morning, go to jobs (if we’re lucky) to support our families, believe in God, salute our Flag, and, if need be, take up arms to defend our liberty. Our thoughts center around budgets, what our children are being taught in school, the family across town who lost everything in a fire, getting together for Sunday dinner. We come home tired at the end of the day, but thankful–thankful for our freedom, a home, and those who love us.

As I watch the ones running for public office, even the highest office in our land, I understand why it is called “running.” They are in two or more states in the same day, talking to this group and that group, trying to be “one of us”, depending on who “us” is. A candidate who has never held an honest-to-goodness job ever, suddenly is the advocate for the working men and women. Those whose children go to private schools assure us they know what’s best taught in classrooms and what is best served in school cafeterias to our children, not theirs.

At times, however, the mask slips and I hear what political figures really think of us. I hear labels, even downright scorn and know they don’t relate to me at all. Oh, except for my vote, of course. That’s important.

I have a strange and unpopular view of how our dignitaries should live and who they should be. I believe they should be elected from among us, we in fly-over-country, we who know what work and earning a paycheck is. They should come from doctors, teachers, small business owners, from our neighbors. In other words, our leaders should not be elitists (I looked up that word in Thesaurus.com and it isn’t flattering.) When a political leader, from the President on down, invites world leaders to the White House and they sit down to a meal, the menu should include food items grown here and no liquor should be on the table. Alcohol dulls the mind and loosens the tongue and doesn’t do anything to dignify its user.

After serving one, or at the most, two term(s) in office, each politician should retire back to his job. Job, I said! No career politicians; we don’t need them. None of this extravagant retirement pay and living on easy street forever while doing absolutely nothing. No wonder we are not financially solvent.

And, that’s another thing: the only reason anybody should run for public office is patriotism. He or she should love our country more than any other, owe allegiance to only the United States of America, and put our citizens before  citizens of any other nation. He should respect, understand, and adhere to the Constitution of the United States only.

Fly-over country is an inaccuracy. When I hear that term, I want to shout, like the tiny Who, that I am here. Doesn’t anybody in government hear me? And, if they do, will they remember me past the election?