Toledo Union Journal

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By Edward Duck, Educational Director, Local 12

THE OPPORTUNITIES

When more than two people get together there's politics. There are different kinds of politics, extending from the kindergarten classroom even to the monastery.

Perhaps the most obvious type is that which deals with paid positions which involve a public trust.

The prime requisite of a successful grown-up politician is the knack of meeting people and impressing them favorably.

Secondly, showing that you are interested in them, perhaps by remembering their names or funny little incidents which they enjoy recalling. A friendly handshake or a sincere smile can go a long way toward gaining and holding acquaintanceship which may currently or at a later date be considered desirable.

But the best politics of all is a job well-done. If you have done a good job you don't need a press agent, nor is self praise necessary. Every grown up politician of any kind has constituents. They will voluntarily be his cheering section if he has served them well.

There are two kinds of politics, good and bad. Good politics promote healthy conditions. Bad politics are destructive by nature and tend only to deteriorate and degrade whatever community they enter. Christian ethics tells us that when the means to an end is not evil in itself this means may be used toward accomplishing a worthwhile objective. And the resultant objective reached in politics through the employment of proper methods can only tend toward aiding the common good.

CREED

Perhaps the underlying cause of bad politics is selfish greed. Those who employ an evil means to accomplish an evil objective must have an evil or selfish motive for so doing.

When irregularities or improper actions are aired before those affected by them this can hardly be called "mud-slinging" or character assassination. When betrayal of a trust is brought to light the guilty party should be punished, or at least denied the opportunity of repeating the offense until he has paid his debt.

Laxity on the part of the voters makes it possible for a selfish minority to become a majority, or the equivalent thereof.

Through lack of interest or through ignorance of the truth, the majority can allow a selfish minority to "take over" and actually misrepresent those who acclaim them as their representatives.

Truth is usually one's best weapon. Those who cannot survive just criticism oftentimes attempt to "gag" their opponents or shout them down in order not to hear the truth.

In certain types of gatherings they indulge in booing or heckling, and occasionally make a mockery of parliamentary procedure in order to interrupt the meeting, discourage those attending, belittle the chairman, and prevent their opposition from receiving an equal break.

MIGHT AND RIGHT

Might does not prevail over right. At least, not for long. Truth has a way of making itself known in the long run.

No amount of subterfuge, fraud, trickery, deceit, conniving or falsifying will defeat a person who bases his politics upon principles.

Those who attempt to discriminate against an individual on the basis of his religion or nationality, or because of political implications which are intrinsically evil will wake up some morning to find that democracy has taken away the power it gave them and which they misused for personal aggrandizement.

Union politics are no exception. A healthy organization is one in which the duly elected officers constantly strive toward bettering the conditions of those whom they represent, remembering that they are the servants, rather than the masters, and remembering also that while good politics are necessary for the preservation of the organization, politics as such should at no time be the prime consideration of those whose bread, butter, rent and clothing depend on honest, sincere, wholehearted effort in collective bargaining with an employer.