Running for office has become hard

It’s not easy to step out under the spotlight and run for public office. Campaigning is grueling. The pay is really not that good. And people can be, well, not so nice to politicians.

The men and women who were candidates in the May 18 primaries deserve applause.

That’s why so many good people refuse to run. They refuse to expose themselves and their families to the public humiliation so many candidates face just because they want to serve their communities.

It takes a special kind of person to run for mayor, city council, school board or tax collector. It takes a special kind of person to walk miles and miles in neighborhood after neighborhood, knock on hundreds of doors and kindly ask for your vote. If we didn’t have people willing to subject themselves to the roughhouse of political campaigning, we wouldn’t have a democracy. We wouldn’t have America. We wouldn’t even have Pennsylvania.

That’s why we ask you to join us in applauding all of the men and women who were candidates in the May 18 primaries. We applaud them whether the vote counts show they won or they loss. We applaud them because they are the very foundation of our democracy. They are what make the American dream a reality.

Yes, there were official winners and losers in Tuesday’s voting tallies. That’s what democracy is about.

But the fact that so many competent, dedicated and courageous people were willing to put their names before us for public service says a lot about our community. It says we live among people who are courageous, committed and called to serve. We applaud them all.

Most of the candidates in Cumberland, Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg and throughout our commonwealth are decent, hard-working people who felt compelled to share their expertise and talents to improve our lives. We could name names, but that would defeat the purpose of this message. We should express out appreciation of all of these ordinary people who stepped up to serve.

The sad fact is, we make it too hard for more good people to run for public office.

Too many good people refuse to go through the hell it often takes to serve their communities. No one is perfect, but for some reason, we expect candidates for public office to be saints.

Too many people think they have the right to berate and abuse public officials. And too many voters fall for misleading ads, false accusations and outright lies against good and honest people.

Let’s face the facts. We know not all candidates are good and honest. Unfortunately, some of the worst even get elected.

But most people who run are doers. They don’t just grouse about problems. They try to solve them.

Here’s another fact. No candidate for public office is a saint. And no voter is, either. But unless we provide a degree of respect and appreciation for those who run for public office, we will find the pool of talent continuing to dwindle.

Think about it, do you know good people who would make excellent commissioners, legislators or school directors, but they would never go through the hell it takes to run for office?

We call on our readers to try to change the political atmosphere. Let’s sincerely thank the brave people who put their names on the ballot in this election.

And let’s vow to change the climate so that more good people aren’t afraid to throw their hats into the political ring.

The fact that so many competent, dedicated and courageous people were willing to put their names before us for public service says a lot about our community.