Politics has gone away from the days when it meant something. It has gone away from the days when politicians spoke about the truth, about the issues and about what they believe in.
We have gone away from the days of Robert F. Kennedy and his Indianapolis speech — a speech he gave moments after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to an inner-city crowd, at a time when inner-city black communities were breaking into riots across the nation.
Kennedy’s speech, which was not prepared in advance but instead was offhand and from the heart, consoled an uneasy crowd and highlighted everything good about politics. His speech touched people, meant something and did not express anything but his own emotions and thoughts.
This type of politics is obsolete in the world today.
Today, politicians refuse to be put on the spot, they refuse to talk about the issues without a game plan and will never speak from the heart if it could cost them a vote — and I am tired of it.
I would do anything to see a politician who cared more about the entire nation than a comfy seat in Washington, someone who says what he wants because he wants to, not because he thinks it will gain him votes.
This election might not be the time I get to see this, but my desire for the politics of the past will not fade.
As long as America pays more attention to Ryan Seacrest than the State of the Union, politics itself will remain lost to our past.
Christopher J. Schoonover
interdisciplinary studies in social sciences and secondary education senior
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