I can't remember the last time I saw an American politician wear a white hat. Without that haberdashery it makes it mighty difficult to separate the good guys from the bad. On the other hand, American politicians make it easy. There are no good guys among them. And that goes for the gals, too, even twice over. When I first had these thoughts I also thought I might be getting jaded. I worried that I might not be seeing the whole picture. Upon greater reflection I have come to realize my views are correct. I am backed up by the statistics about the favor of Congress and various other members of our governing legion. None are universally looked up to. All have, at minimum, a large plurality of the governed who think they stink. Even the winners have millions of people who distrust, dislike or disparage of them. None wear white hats.

Good guys, and gals, should be people we hold above the crowd. People who we all look up to. People who we trust as friends, leaders, guides, neighbors or family. Our politicians can't seem to fill that bill. They all come up short in one way or another. I haven't been able to identify a good guy among them. You try it. Can you name a good guy? Is he/she really good or are they just better than most? I know some will think their own Congressman is gold while others are lead. None of them seem to have the metal to carry honesty, morality, intelligence and sympathetic empathy into their elected office. On the stump they are pure but in order to win their position they bend rules and truth. On second thought maybe I should have said empathetic sympathy.

I have a feeling pathetic would be a better word to describe our politicians. Somehow what would otherwise be considered a poor excuse for humanity has managed to convince a winning amount of people to vote for them. They don't do that by coming into town and saving it from itself. No, not even trying by wearing a white hat, they get the votes by being the loudest brayer in the bunch. Often the braying or trumpeting is amplified by money interests who buy the politicians megaphones or broadcast antennas. They, the money people, do this because they expect something in return and that something seldom provides anything good for the the eventual constituents.

One thing that has tended to keep me from really going over a cliff on this essay is what I see among the general populace. I got to looking out across my community. I watched the countryside as it went past my windshield. I paid attention to real news from far and wide. Guess what I discovered. Would you believe it? No white hats anywhere. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers are not among us any longer. No one has come to take their place. Lash LaRue and Hopalong are long gone. Neither a Boehner or Pelosi wear white hats. How will we ever know again who we should ride with? If we the people don't start wearing white hats, why should we expect our elected officials to do so?