a modest proposal

I have a modest proposal.

Let recovering drug addicts choose our leaders.

We are uniquely qualified for the task.
Having lived years of lies, deceit, thievery, skillful manipulation and faulty reasoning, recovering addicts are the most adept at smelling bullshit before it ever sets foot in a room or on a stage.

We’ve nothing left to lose because our addictions have taken it already. We’re impartial to the party, only to the raw revelation of honesty and good reason and we will go to any lengths necessary to find it in another. Our motto is “principles over personalities” and our goal is to see the emergence of integrity. We don’t acquiesce to emotional appeals or spins on the truth, but call them on the carpet. Our training was perfected while imprisoned, on the streets of selfish coercion, and usually both. Recovery has made all our secrets public with nothing left to hide or to hide behind and we understand what is freedom and what is not. We are all veterans of a war who walked away victors and are among the most vigilant combatants on behalf of others in the world.

We know the enemy because he is who we once were.

By nature, it takes a keen set of skills to become an addict and a ruthless pursuit of humility to escape from it. We know when someone’s under bad influence, on something, onto something, or just needs a few sobering days in jail. We let people be flawed and forgiven but not rescued.

We demand integrity in one another and are the first to recognize when it slips. We are accountable to no special interests but only to the power of the One higher and smarter than ourselves. And most importantly, we know that sometimes losing is winning.

This is my modest proposal.