With All Due Respect

Somewhere in my past I soaked up the lesson that other people are due at least a modicum of respect, simply for being people. Further, those who hold office are due the respect afforded to that office. There is an implication there that those who hold offices deserve to do so.

I have found ample instances with which to disagree with that premise. Many are notorious. Take Senator Wide Stance, the fellow who was arrested in the MSP airport soliciting gay sex from an undercover cop. While I could care less whether or not he's gay, his behavior both in dealing with the - ahem - exposure, and his legislative history of promoting anti-gay policies and laws combine to tell me he's not a person worthy of my respect, regardless of his position. There have been so many examples of this dichotomy between personal life and public politics that there's not enough room to try to list even the recent ones.

I have adopted a new standard by which I decide to respect an office holder, or not. What are they doing with that position? Are they using it for personal power or financial gain? Are they trying to make life better for people or animals, or promote some kind of worthy cause? I can also judge them on a personal, human level. As a human being, are they worth the space they take up and the air they breathe?

So if you hear me use the phrase, "With all due respect...", understand that somewhere behind that is a busy mind making a judgment of just how much respect is actually due. Of course, I may never tell you just what my conclusion is. I can't always hide it, but seldom do I think it worthwhile to make an actual comment. It is time to do so.

Now, those of you who read my posting on Participatory Democracy may think you know how much respect I bear for the current mayor of this town. You might be wrong, particularly if you think I bear him no respect. There are definitely things I take issue with. But there are other things that I've either seen or not seen that indicate he should be granted respect. For example, as far as I know, he is an upstanding family man. He and his wife have even adopted a baby to raise along with their other son, something not everyone is willing to do. I hear no whispers of drunkenness or reckless driving or tax evasion or gambling or affairs or any of the myriad foibles that rapidly become fodder for small town gossip mills. Until I hear something credible to the contrary, I'll grant him respect on that front. I once heard him admonish a petitioner before the council for using terms of bigotry, not allowing that kind of terminology into the discussion. That commands respect.

That respect, however, in no way colors the other things I do take issue with. Life is grey and many-colored, so seldom black and white.