“This is an election year, and it seems appropriate therefore to talk politics. But politics in its full sense goes far beyond primaries or even general elections. The root of the word politics is polis — the Greek word for the city, or City State. A politician in anciet times was supposed to serve the City...That is the kind of politics we need now — the politics of service.”
On the eve of the 2018 midterm elections, our Quote of the Week describes a service-oriented notion of politics. It is notion that Sargent Shriver embraced with enthusiasm and energy for the people he served throughout his life.
In his speech to the New York University Class of 1964, Sargent Shriver remarked on the political lives of Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and the many Peace Corps volunteers Sarge himself led and inspired. What was notable about their examples, Sarge said, was the way in which their values were expressed. Their political actions were always in service to others.
To be sure, Sargent Shriver is himself an embodiment of the politics of service. From his development of the Peace Corps to the creation of the War on Poverty programs, through his tenure as US ambassador to France, and beyond, he strove for prosperity, justice, and safety for others, in the US and around the world.
As we head to the ballot box on Tuesday, let’s remember this model of the politics of service, and let’s support leaders who embrace it.
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