A Glimpse of Political Maturity

Tonight marked my first political event since 2008 other than voting. I attended a town hall meeting for Beto O’Rourke, running to replace Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate, at the Grand Texan Hotel in Midland. It was a packed room with many standing on the side and in the back.
Beto was the most refreshing politician I have heard in a long time. Yes, yes, yes, there were many of the progressive policies that I’ve come to embrace…health care for all, a more inviting system of immigration, reasonable pay for public school teachers, term limits for senators and representatives, campaign finance reform. But what really made my heart go piter-pat was his sincere invitation for people of all political ilks to come to his town halls and ask questions, and his call for bipartisanship.
Politics has become sickening, culminating in the anxiety-encouraging barrage of news stories we see today.
O’Rourke, at least in his rhetoric, was an inclusive, integral thinker, open to changing his mind, even a little, even on the spot. At the rebuke of one person working for schools to be inclusive of the staff such as custodians, cafeteria works and bus drivers that make school possible, he acknowledged his lack of awareness and adjusted. To another question about toxic waste, he acknowledged his ignorance and volunteered the person asking the question as his “new person” in charge of research for that topic.
Bravo! Someone running for office that has enough confidence to admit some weakness. It was a breath of fresh air, one I hope to keep breathing.
Patrick Ramsey is a therapist and crisis counselor who spends his free time chauffeuring his kids, writing stories and poems, playing Ingress and working with PFLAGG. He competes in NYC Midnight competitions and is currently plotting a novel called The Catcher. You can find him at his website, www.counselingwtx.net,@RamseyCounseling on Facebook and Writer’s Cafe.
