unelectable

My kids had an interesting question for me: "Dad, if you got elected to work for the government, would we have to move?"

"Well," I answered, "it depends. If I was elected to city council or the county commission, I wouldn't go anywhere. So we'd stay here. If I got into the state legislature, I'd have to go to Boise while in session and live there for a few months during the year, but I'd still live here. If I became a state representative in the federal government, it would be more interesting and I'd do a lot of flying back and forth between here and Washington DC. I'd also have to travel around the state a lot."

"Oh."

I continued, "However, such discussion is purely hypothetical and purely irrelevant."

"Why?" They asked.

It is encouraging they have (at this stage of their lives) enough faith in me to think I could win a seat in an elected office. They think I'm smart enough and that my ideas are worthy of consideration in deliberating law and government policies. Their confidence in me won't last forever, but I cherish it while I have it. However, I will never run for any political office. Not because I'm uninterested but because it would be a fruitless endeavor.

"Because," I said, "I am unelectable."

"You are?"

"I am." their over-inflated belief in my abilities humbles me. They wanted to know why so I explained. "I am too conservative for the Democrats and I'm too liberal for the Republicans. Socialists would not approve of my libertarian tendencies and Libertarians would not appreciate my socialist leanings. Politically speaking, I don't fit in anywhere. No party would accept me, which would make it impossible for me to run for any elected position."

There is a reason I describe my political persuasion as potpourri. I am the purple voter. Anyone who sees me as something other than a true independent is an extremist within their own party. Maybe that means I have more in common with the average American than the people who inevitably end up on ballots each November. Perhaps that makes me completely unelectable.

Yet, if the election of Donald Trump has taught me anything, it is that anyone - and I do mean ANYONE can become president.