What is it like to work in the medical field?

What does it feel like to work in the field of politics?

• You can explain about the political setup from your country and what it feels like to work in this setup. Or you can talk about what it feels like to work in specific capacities in politics or the political setup in your nation. You don't need to be working in politics per se, but have a general idea of what it feels like maybe through shared experiences etc.

• Answer:

  I have little or no experience in the field but know some who do.  Here are a few vignettes.   At the low level there's a lot of footwork: gathering petitions, distributing fliers, putting up signs.   Slightly above that level there are lots of meetings.  I know a guy who worked in the Libertarian Party on a local ballot issue.  He had to meet with a coalition of other interested groups, e.g., the Green Party, the Socialist Workers Party.  There were strategy meetings, press conferences, public speaking events, and the like.  These groups had often conflicting political philosophies but had to find common ground on the particular issue.   At every meeting the SWP was represented by somebody different.  Didn't much help continuity.  My friend invented a joke:   Q.  How many Socialist Workers does it take to change a light bulb?   A.  All of them.   I knew the local coordinator for the LP.  He was very good at that job.  He told me that he was not entirely convinced of the entire LP platform, but had his job to do, which didn't include rocking the boat.  There were enough party members willing to do that.  This guy arranged meetings, put out publicity, coaxed members to take on tasks such as the coordinator job mentioned above, and all the detail work required to bring a bunch of people together.   I was once a delegate at a major party state primary convention.  A vote will be taken on candidates.  Then a second vote, with the lowest vote getters eliminated.  Candidates' staffs wheel and deal in back rooms.  The staffs of those candidates still in the running attempt to wheedle the staffs of an eliminated candidate to vote for their guy, promising perhaps a couple delegates at the national convention.  Then the staffs try to rally the delegates to their deal.   I was once visited by my state Representative.  He asked my concerns as we sat on the porch for an hour or so.  I expressed them in no uncertain terms.  To some core concerns he replied, "You know I can't vote that way, else I'd lose support for reelection from the party leaders."  Didn't give me much faith in representative government; he represented the party leaders, not me.   I knew an LP candidate for governor.  Much of his time was spent travelling, giving speeches, and attending debates.  In that state the LP had sufficient official status, from former votes for the party, that he was on the debate stage with the Democrat and the Republican.   Rather than staying at hotels as most candidates do, this guy travelled with his family and camped at parks near the venue.  Not only did it extend his campaign budget and give him quality time with the family, it got him some nice media attention.  People are proud of their local attractions.   Such candidates are inevitably approached by people who have dirt on the opponents.  The staff and candidate attempt to weigh whether to use it.  He chose not to.  First, it is unlikely to have won him the election and second, it wouldn't have been very nice.   We had a Mensa Regional Gathering in a hotel, chosen about a year before the event.  This is a three day party with a variety of activities and speakers appealing to diverse interests.  It turns out that this place was selected by the Doubletalk...er, Straight Talk Express, the bus tour of McCain and Palin during their campaign.  Secret Service and bomb sniffing dogs were everywhere.  Parking was made more inconvenient for our event.  They were giving speeches down the road the next day.   Some Mensans happened to see the candidates as they walked through the lobby past our event setup.  For about a minute.  I'm told they smiled.  A five year old kid happened to come running down a side hall.  A Secret Service guy ran to intercept the kid.  Apparently he was deemed a threat.   Dealing with the general public can have some trying times no matter what the line of work.  Staffers for bigwigs have numerous responsibilities.  One is dealing with the general public.  Some constituents call with genuine concerns for which a staffer might give some advice on who to contact, or on rare occasion bring to the attention of his Congressman boss.  There are also, I'm sure, a lot of ridiculous calls of the sort I mentioned here: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/hines/041101