I once met a state legislator (who shall remain nameless) to whom I posed the question “do you think elected officials deserve the bad rap them often get?”  He thought for a moment and then answered me with this gem: “Well, I’d say 90 percent of elected officials make the other 10 percent of us look bad!”

Personally I tend to believe that the percentage of legislators that are decent people trying to do something good tends to be higher.  Regardless, I can tell you from first hand experience in legislative offices that being an elected official is a tough job and that we should have a high level of respect for those that chose to take on this role. Legislators are constantly bombarded by constituents, lobbyists and members of the media all giving you information and asking for your vote.  And you need a thick skin once you come to your conclusion because you will never make everyone happy.

This is why I love legislators and those at the state level in particular.  State legislative work isn’t sexy.  It doesn’t have the pomp and circumstance of Washington.  But it’s incredibly important because it impacts the lives of those in our state in much more direct way than typical legislation in Washington.  We’ve selected our state legislators to do one of the toughest jobs that there is out there.  They need to work in a limited time frame, four months in Tennessee, and must come to a conclusion about the best course of action.  It is not a job for the faint of heart and nobody stays in it that isn’t committed at least in part to public service.

So, to all the legislators in Tennessee who just finished this session, I thank you for your service.  Even when we disagree, I appreciate you for the role you’ve taken on and the tough job you do from January through April.  Please continue to do everything you can to do what is best for the state of Tennessee.  And for those times when the burden of public service becomes overwhelming and you’re tempted to quit, I leave you with this quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit goes to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the great deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.