When I first moved to [city name redacted], I was a somewhat regular attendee at city council meetings, even speaking a few times. Once, I spoke about the council trying to limit the amount of time citizens could speak on a topic (they wanted to lower it from 5 minutes to 3, and eventually did), calculating their salaries and amount of time they formally spend in the public forums (they didn’t like that math). Another time I spoke about their intent to put restrictions on what people could talk about or the language they could use (I cited a bunch of free speech cases, and they ultimately backed off of that desire – for a little while…). Still another time yet, I spoke on issues of homelessness, specifically as it related to the criminalization of poverty and the heavy-handed approach to policing the downtown area where homeless folks reside. This led to me doing some empirical research on the topic with some academics and advocates in the city, producing a pretty solid report on the matter, something we later presented on and that may have resulted in the powerholders backing off on some of their tactics – again, but only for a little bit…

For a while, I was also a frequent guest columnist in the local paper, having had something like 20 op-eds on a variety of topics published. At one point it got so as the editor would just run them without even responding to me – I was definitely on a hot streak for a while. Then it got a little cold, and I figured out he was mostly only interested in my polemical and pointed efforts, less so on my more thoughtful topics or those not actively being discussed in the moment and of the current cultural zeitgeist. But anytime I sent in something that was a topic du jour and about a hyperlocal or national topic, he mostly ate them up. However, the paper here had been getting worse and worse over the years and I was wondering what I was paying for, so I stopped my subscription. With that came the end of my op-ed writing career because I just no longer saw the point in writing for a paper I no longer read…

It’s time to take it back. But how do we get started? Image comes courtesy of Vincent M.A. Janssen and was retrieved from here.

Anyways, perhaps unrelated to those two activities, but likely because of them, I’ve had a handful of people come up to me over the years and suggest I should run for city council. I may have given some thought to doing so, briefly, but eventually overruled that as an option for many reasons. First is that I would have to be here for much of the summer. It’s brutal and horrible here in the Mid-Atlantic from late June through the end of October, so I try to get out for as long as possible. Also, I’m not going to campaign door-to-door or get on social media or any of that other shit. Plus, while local politics are very important, I’d really only have interest at a higher level, probably state, preferably national. But with the state, again, I’m stuck here throughout the summer (though, the long session is only every other year), and the pay is atrocious. It actually pays better to be on city council. That’s why in this state it’s only the wealthy who hold state-level office. As far as national politics goes, then I’d have to live in DC for a large chunk of the year. I can’t think of too many cities I’d rather live in less. I hate gridlock, concrete, and congestion. No thank you.

I’d be a terrible politician anyway. I have a short fuse and an unruly temperament. I can’t stand bureaucracy. And while I’m sure I am one from time-to-time, I hate hypocrites. I hate liars, too, but I know I do that as well. It would be an exercise in self-loathing, I imagine, to be a politician. Really, I think I would be good on policy and speech writing, but to even get to that level I imagine I’d have to immerse myself in the pigsty of politics for an unhealthy amount of time, and I wouldn’t have the tolerance to play nice and engage in doublespeak. But it should go without saying, I’m sick of the politics and politicians here in the States. I don’t see it getting better anytime soon. What’s one to do?

Another thing is that I’m politically homeless. I’ve been either an unaffiliated or independent voter for decades (before that I was a registered Democrat, I think), and “both sides” drive me mad. I’m too liberal for the conservatives, too conservative for the liberals. I don’t know if I’d say I’m a moderate per se, as I have some beliefs that are starkly “progressive” (namely the environment and education), but I also have some pretty libertarian leanings as well, including not engaging in interventionist practices and getting a handle on the national debt. While I think the federal government is too large and unwieldy, I recognize many of these departments and personnel are essential, and I’m not against many regulations, especially when it comes to health and safety. I’m a walking contradiction politically, I imagine…

I think that globalization is a no-win outcome for the bottom 90% of the economic pecking order in the States, and that a higher degree of American self-sufficiency across industries is warranted. Though an overused (but accurate) phrase, the military industrial complex is certainly the most troubling facet of our economic and social issues. If we could rein that in and focus solely on strategic defense and abandon nation-building and trying to be the world’s police, we might be able to attend to our most pressing social and environmental concerns at home and ward off future conflicts abroad. Maybe.

But a number of other things need to be addressed, too: ending lobbying and unrestricted money in politics; creating term limits for public officials; adopting ranked-choice voting; breaking up the big monopolies, especially in tech; reinstating the fairness doctrine; and probably a few other important things I’m forgetting. I don’t have faith in many of the people of this country, but I cling to faith in the “system,” despite its many flaws. We need people who are honest and committed, and most importantly, who can connect with the masses. I don’t think I’m one of those people…

I remember around the 2002 World Cup I bought a Gadsden Flag t-shirt and wore it proudly during the U.S. men’s team’s games. Then about eight years later, the Tea Party appropriated it, and then so did all the whack-job alt-right folks and I felt I could no longer wear it. A couple of years ago, I was regaling that story to one of my friends, telling him I wanted to take it back, but to improve upon it. Instead of focusing on “me,” we need to focus on “us.” That’s where things got off the right path in this country. Further, we need to quit being victims and looking to score points and cancel other people. We need to start owning up to our choices and taking responsibility for actions. We have to accept that we’re all in this together. There aren’t many politicians who embody or effuse these ideals today. I don’t know if I could or would either. But if you ever see my name on the ballot, know I’ve gone insane and signed my death warrant.

Marco Esquandoles
Write-in Candidate for Misanthrope