Of Kings, Candidates and Crazy Wheat : Politics: The people want their leaders to understand their problems.

It won’t happen, but let us suppose for argument’s sake that George Bush or Bill Clinton asked me what I think would persuade the American people to vote for one of them over the other. I would be tempted to tell him this old rabbinical tale:

Many years ago, there existed a kingdom ruled by a wise king. One day, the king’s ministers came to him and told him that a great tragedy had befallen the kingdom: The wheat crop had been infected by a strange disease. The wheat would make all who ate it crazy. However, the ministers continued, there was some good news. One field of wheat had not been infected. The ministers advised the king to eat only this healthy wheat.

The king thought about the situation for a moment and then turned to his ministers and said: “My friends, your intentions are good, but I cannot follow your advice. A king must be one with the people. If the people must eat the infected wheat and become crazy, then as king, I, too, must eat the infected wheat and become crazy, for how else can I understand my people and their needs? But you, my trusted ministers--I order you to eat the healthy wheat. A time will come when all the wheat will return to normal, but we shall all have lost the memory of what being normal means. At that time, you who have not eaten the infected wheat will be there to remind me and my people what sanity is all about.”

The moral of the tale is not that a leader should blindly and irresponsibly adopt the ways of the people. On the contrary, the king in the tale acted prudently to ensure that through all the hard times, the people would be well governed by his ministers.

For me, the moral of the tale is this: To govern effectively, a leader must remain one with the people. It is critical that the leader understand the daily concerns and hardships of the governed. It is the job of the leader’s ministers to keep abreast of the economic studies, the reports and charts and trends that make up the business of government. People do not vote for ministers, however; they vote for their leader. When all is said and done, they will vote for the person who, they perceive, understands and cares about their lives and who will make sure that the business of government, with all its sophistications, does not forget them.

The American people will vote for the candidate who persuades them that he is willing to share in their hardships.