It’s said that two thousand years ago, the great physician Hippocrates applied the notion of four humors, blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm, to medicine. While this might seem a quaint and naive notion to a modern reader, it was revolutionary in blaming physical causes for illnesses of the body and mind, alike.
Over time, these four humors became associated with temperaments. In particular, an abundance of blood was associated with being joyful and an abundance of phlegm was associated with being reserved, giving us the terms ‘sanguine’ and ‘phlegmatic.’
For the last few years, one might look at the political discourse of this county and characterize it as lacking blood and phlegm and having altogether too much yellow bile. Anger prevails where a quiet affability would have served better.
These days, I try very hard to give others the benefit of the doubt that they are doing what they think is best. It is a very sick person who does not consider themselves the hero of their own story. Being wrong does not require a person to be evil. In public, political discourse, it is very important to remember: nearly everybody believes that they are pursuing the best course of action according to their own knowledge and principles.
Candidates for any public office place themselves before the public to be judged. Judged they are, and harshly! Throughout the primary campaign, I have sought to only talk issues, and not contribute to the inevitable negativity. In part, this is because each of the candidates for the two open commission seats, though their actions and my interactions with them, has cultivated a healthy degree of respect from me. In the interests of spreading metaphorical blood and phlegm across the county, I’d like to take a moment to speak favorably about the character of each.
Roger Propst was not present at that first meeting of the Republican Club, but he was present at the second and just about every Club and Executive Committee meeting since. Few can lay claim to doing more work than him for making our fundraising successful. As Interim Commissioner, he has formalized the process by which public funds may be conveyed to the worthy and needy organizations of this county, bringing a degree of oversight and accountability not seen previously.
Alice Holmes has created a brilliant resource for the youth of this county in the form of the Grantsville Conservatory of Music and Fine Arts. Her focus is on the children and their artistic development, yet this has not stopped her from also attending to those in long-term care with her milkshake ministry. She has every reason to be proud of what she has done and this community has every reason to be proud to have her.
Jacob Mccumbers is the candidate I have had the least contact with, but I have always found him to be affable and forthright. My wife has had more interaction with him in a professional capacity, and has found him to be a hard working family man with a focus on what his best for his children.
For my part, I am running against each of these people not because I dislike them, but because I disagree with them. Each of them wants what is best for this county every bit as much as I do. We simply disagree on our priorities, our solutions, and our visions for a successful Calhoun County.
Eric Lupardus is one of the two candidates running for the other commission seat. He is a hardworking businessman who cares deeply for the community he serves. He brings both the energy this county needs for change and the acumen to find a viable course for that change.
Kevin Helmick, also running for the other commission seat, has been serving the county as a whole and a long-underserved part of the county in particular for a long time. Under his tenure, the financial situation of the county was improved dramatically with the construction of the compressor station. Without his efforts, that station may well not have been built in this county.
At the first meeting of the Republican Club two years ago, I shared this short teaching and a prayer. The great sages teach that there are two sorts of disagreements, those not for the sake of Heaven and those for the sake of Heaven. Those not for the sake of Heaven are petty disputes.
The example of a disagreement not for the sake of Heaven is the one between Moses and Korach. Korach’s rebellion was a simple power-grab. Disagreements for the sake of Heaven are principled disagreements, where the point is not to win but to be right, where victory comes to both parties in the form of having either taught or learned something, depending on who proved to be correct. A petty disagreement should perish quickly while a principled disagreement should endure forever. We then prayed that every disagreement in the new Republican organization be principled.
Election day, primary and general alike, cannot come soon enough. The voters will make their decisions and the elected officials, whoever they might be, can settle down to doing the people’s business.
Hopefully the acrimony will also settle down and people will remember how to sanguine and phlegmatic in their disagreements. A return to principled disagreement would allow us to build each other up as we all try to be less wrong instead of seeing us tear each other down pursuing a hollow and personal victory.
The county is too small for all this yellow bile. As I started my involvement with this county’s politics with a prayer for only principled disagreement, I end this part of the campaign with another prayer, that this bit of blood and phlegm proves catching,
Right now, the choice is in your hands. Get out and vote, but don’t forget to love your neighbor while you’re at it.
