We are not liked around the world, we are not held in high esteem by many of our previous “friends,” and we find ourselves defending even the good things we are trying to do for the rest of mankind. I pondered what has happened to put us in such a tenable and, more than likely, horrible perspective in the minds of people the world over. There probably are a myriad of items we could list in that grab bag of criticisms, but one that jumped out to bite me rather soundly is the simple word respect. When Otis Redding wrote the lyrics to “Respect” for Aretha Franklin to put her booming voice into, he really caught the problem of the U.S. in 2012 with ”All I’m asking is for a little respect.”

The world sees us through our politicians, and if you simply zero in on the typical politician that we parade out for the world to see, you quickly discover that respect isn’t a word the world would use to describe them. Noticing the change, the approval rating for Congress has dipped to below 30 percent. But even with that approval rating, each senator and representative expects and really demands respect. Why shouldn’t they? They are the Lords of the Manor, the gentry of the estates and clearly the aristocracy of the U.S. As the aristocracy of the past ruled as lords of the land, pillaged the neighboring lands and lusted after the women folk, these “new aristocrats” demand respect that has not been earned in any way shape or form. They have taken their titles by being “elected” to their positions. There, the whole system breaks down.

The characters and cronies that we, in our foolishness and stupidity, have elected to serve us have gotten the message completely wrong. Barack Obama, our president; Newt Gingrich, a former house speaker; Mitt Romney, a former governor; and Rick Santorum, a former senator were not raised to the aristocracy because of that election. Crowns were not placed on their heads as we pledged our fealty to them. I remember no smoky rooms that forced us to bow and grovel at their feet. I seem to remember more the issue that these characters were elected to serve us. They never were intended to rule over us, to make us serve them. And here is where the respect comes in.

Do I have respect for a 12-year-old who takes his newspaper delivery earnings and buys turkeys for the needy and convinces his family, friends and neighbors to give up their Thanksgiving dinner to stand in the cold providing meals for the homeless? You better believe it. Do I respect the soldiers who fight in ungodly conflicts where lives are only one bullet away? Absolutely. Do I respect an elderly senior citizen who goes out of her way to comfort those in dire need of a shoulder to cry on? Completely.

Now, do I respect politicians who can’t get the job we assigned to them done, can’t speak in a civil tone about their opponents, can’t respond to my pleas for needed help because I am not a big enough donor, can’t find it in themselves to treat me above the level of an impoverished peasant of the Dark Ages? Absolutely not.

We have reached a time in our history when we should look from the outside, through the eyes of the world, and re-evaluate what our politicians have become and what we as a people need to do about it. Current American politicians have no respect on the world stage. Most politicians across the world are little more than the worthless characters of the past ages, masquerading as “good guys” but functioning as the stereotypical landed gentry who pillaged and raped as they saw fit.

We won’t have a lot of luck in changing those politicians outside of the U.S., but we need to cleanse the current crop of individuals on our own soil who have not performed as they should. We need to remind those running that we don’t work for them, they work for us. They were not elected to rule, no matter what Joe Kennedy believed. They were elected to serve. And if they perform in a manner that reflects that attitude, they can sing right along with Aretha and loudly proclaim, “All I’m asking is for a little respect.”

Craig Gunn is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at gunn@egr.msu.edu.