Lunch with the Governor

I'm soon off to lunch with Idaho's Governor Butch Otter, well, not just the two of us, but the Twin Falls Kiwanis Club and our guests which will be about 80 of us meeting with the Governor. I'm not really all that sure how I feel about this week's program. I can't imagine that Otter will have much to say that I'll agree with, but he is the state's highest elected official so certainly he'll have something to say that is of interest.

I know these feelings are only part of a larger feeling of malaise in our country over elected officials at any level. There are people who are unhappy that the President is too Socialist and there are those on the left that think he's moved too far to the middle. Then there are people who think the Republicans in Congress are too obstructionist and there are those on the far right and in the "Tea Party" who think they're not conservative enough. In Idaho there's a sense that all taxes are bad and therefore we certainly can't raise taxes to make more happen and then a lot of those people who complain about taxes happily collect their Social Security Check or enjoy the benefits of Medicare.

It seems like you just can't please anyone these days. So I'm going to lunch where a Governor I didn't vote for and won't vote for in November will probably talk about things from a perspective that I don't agree with, but if he does so in a way that is authentic and true to how he believes he is being led to believe then who am I to not at least listen? That and it seems to me that there is something in what it means to being a Christian about loving neighbors and not only those with whom I agree. So, shortly I'll hop in my car and try to not only open my mouth for lunch but also to open my ears, mind, and heart to what Governor Otter has to say.