Somone asked me to stand for public office
Sun_Stealer remarks: "Have you ever considered running for political office, Mr. Wright? You’d have my vote."
Heh. I am a failed attorney, because I found law work boring, and unrewarding, and I was (to be frank) not an asset to the firm that hired me. Writing law is just as boring as reading it, but has the added drawbacks of being a job where one must meet, greet, and please the public, plus one must chiffer and bargain with one’s fellow politicos to get things done.
If the Lord recalls my sins, then in the next life my punishment in purgatory will be doing law work combined with public relations, public appearances, and negotiation. You will see me on one of the shelves of Dante’s mountain, singing hymns, on fire while I drag a huge boulder on my back, eyelids stapled shut, or something like that, with an accordion file of legal documents in my hands, and an appointment where I have to dress up in a suit and tie, explaining to ignorant voters that I cannot both lower taxes and give them more goodies.
No, the idea of a political career is flattering but without merit. Besides, any Christian man of letters already has more power than an earthly prince. The true leadership in any civilization is in its philosophers and thinkers, its writers and men of the mind. The political leaders, by and large, merely carry out the popular will, which, by and large, is controlled by the ideas of the writers and thinkers of the previous generation.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
