30 Stories in 30 Days #25 – “Connecting with the People”

Connecting with the People

When the commercial break began, Carol left the living room and went into the bathroom.  She took the towels out of the dryer and carried them back into the living room.  As she began folding them, she half watched the commercials waiting for her show to return.

After the hyped up ad for kids’ cereal, there was a slick commercial for the latest smart phone followed by a cheesy one for a local car dealer.  But the next commercial began with a man sitting in a chair before a light blue backdrop.  He smiled and said, “Hello, I’m Mitch McCullers, and I’m running for the 7^th District State Senate.”

Carol groaned.  “Give me car dealership commercials any day,” she grumbled.

On the screen McCullers continued, “Recently, you may have seen the commercial by my opponent Representative Garnett where he asks if I can’t keep my house clean, what will I do to yours.  This is apparently a reference to my sister Veronica’s fourteen year battle with drug addiction.  Anyone with even the slightest trace of humanity knows that addiction is a terrible burden and not something that can be shrugged off overnight.  If that were the case, then politicians could shrug off their addiction to lying and we’d all be the better for it.  Now I’m sure if I dug around I could find a second cousin or something of Representative Garnett who’s been pulled over for DUI, but I won’t.  Because every family has problems.  Most are best solved privately with, for example, doctors and therapists.  I don’t know of any family problems helped by them being dragged through the public square.  Of course, these aren’t problems politicians should be working on.  Representative Garnett may want to waste your time, but I don’t.

“To learn more about my positions on matters you care about, check out VoteMcCullersfor7th.com, and thank you.”

Her towels folded, Carol debated if she could put them away before her show came back on.  She had just picked the basket up and turned to go when she heard the host of her show welcoming everyone back.  Carol set the basket down and retuned to the couch.  The towels could wait until the next commercial break.