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Show THE ZEPHYRJUNE 1992 PAGE 11 "" afford a really effective alarm system. This particular Congressman, Jim McDermott, is a decent, honest, able man. He served twelve years in our state legislature, so he went to Washington with experience. He's smart, too-a-n M.D.-th- e only active doctor in Congress. His goal is to do something about getting a workable, affordable national health care plan in place. Yet when I've been out campaigning with him before an election, going door to door to seek support. I'm dumbfounded by the number of people who do not know who he is or who will say We're not involved in politics." He says he's hesitant to take me with him for fear that I will kick a door in and yell some truth at folks. with a strong majority, he. knows that only 50 of the Although he was voters district in his bothered to vote-h- e actually was sent to office by about registered 70,000 people - out of half a million. He knows that he can't count on enough money from his constituents to get funds to run for office - that he is forced to turn to PACS and lobbyists. It grieves him that the people who need him most help him least because they are impatient with government and if they can't get what they want right away, they drop out in disgust, naively thinking that apathy is a reasonable alternative to involvement I came away from Washington with just a small taste of what it's like to be in his shoes, and two thoughts come to mind: I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind wants this impossible, unpleasant thankless job. And if I were in charge of things, I would require that each citizen have to post their own political record on their front door, and if they weren't involved as citizens - if they didn't vote or participate in the political process in an active way, then they would have to stay out and keep their mouths shut I asked his staff why he was running again. They said he was terminally idealistic, that he had a long view of history and the democratic process, knowing that the latter works slowly but surely. They said that in spite of all the negative dimensions of government, both the Congressman and they, his staff, were again and again inspired by their contact with the uncountable numbers of people working for progress in human affairs in the most altruistic ways. Those who cared could not be let down. The staff said their Congressman was not an exception - most Congressmen were like theirs - the exceptions were the fools and the corruptible who came and went but got all the press: Read your history, they suggested - Congress is more worthy of respect now than ever before. And it's a better world now than it was 100 years ago -check it out -- the facts support this truth. And no small part of the progress made in American civilization in the last couple of hundred years is through the efforts of people like your Congressman. Take the long view, they said, take the long view. In another part of Washington, in front of the National Academy of Sciences on Constitution Avenue, a memorial stature sits in a grove of elm and holly trees. feet tall, seated on a marble bench, with a map Albert Einstein. In bronze. Twenty-on- e of the universe etched in granite at his feet Uncle Albert is depicted here in an old sweater, worn cord trousers, and sandals, his hair is in its classic disarray, and his face reflects a combination of wonder, wisdom and tranquility. The epitome of the man who took the long, large view of things. " After a few mind-warpidays in our nation's capital, I spent part of an early evening on Einstein's lap. His knee is a welcoming place to sit and think. From this vantage point there are some powerful views. South, across the street and down a grassy hUl you can see the Viet Nam Memorial, where people come 365 days a year and 24 hours a day to consider the names written there and notice their own reflection in that shiny black granite wall Just to the right, the grave face of Abraham Lincoln looks out from within his grand white marble rotunda. If you lift your eyes and look further across the Potomac River, you can see the flame burning on John Kennedy's grave on the hillside in Arlington National Cemetery. And no matter which way you look, you see an endless procession of ordinary men and women and children of all sizes and shapes and colors, from all over America and from all over the world, come to walk through the blooming cherry trees of early spring - to stand here and there and experience these places of remembrance so paradoxically marked by pain, sorrow, promise and glory. These citizens who still believe in liberty and justice for all- - who trust that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are worth working for, still, and who know that these ideals will not be realized in our time, but will never be realized if we don't add our stones to the rising cathedral of the human spirit Some of these people sit in Congress in Washington. They are Us. Thinking about all this, worn out from just two days in Washington, I was unexpectedly moved to tears. How utterly amazing it all is - this cockamamie thing called representative democracy. It has been bought and paid for with blood and sacrifice on the part of uncommon men and women. It does work - it has to - and it works very hard. 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