MINOT — When you deal with politicians as often as I do, one of the great obstacles you face is breaking through the polished facade they put between themselves and the public.
Between the slick marketing campaigns, anodyne press releases and public statements sanded down to the point where they no longer have any meaning, it can be hard to elicit something real and revealing out of these people. Which is why I was proud when, during our Plain Talk interview with U.S. House candidate Vern Thompson, he revealed something deeply personal about himself.
He was a farmer during the farm crisis of the 1980s, and during that time he also struggled with drinking. “I’ll be real candid with you, during that time I went in for treatment for alcoholism, and it’s the best thing I ever did,” he told us. “I wouldn’t be alive talking to you guys today.”
That life experience is a part of what’s motivating Thompson to seek office now. He says we’re now entering a new farm crisis — the worst since the 1980s, in his mind — and he wants to help protect the new generation of young farmers. “I saw people committing suicide,” he said. “I saw where people were getting foreclosed and they were filing bankruptcy. I don’t want to see those people that are the same age today, those young farmers, as I was in the 80s, because that was hell.”
When I wrote the headline and article for that episode of the podcast, I highlighted Thompson’s comments about his alcoholism, because I thought they were remarkable and interesting and spoke to Thompson’s character as a man and a candidate for elected office.
Not everyone took that well. I got some criticism from supporters of Thompson, who perceived the reference to his struggles as a criticism. Others, on social media and elsewhere, attacked Thompson, as though he had something to be ashamed of.
I’ll admit that the way I wrote the original headline and show notes for that episode was too blunt. I fell short of the meaning I was trying to convey. For that, blame the author. Mea culpa.
For those attacking Thompson for showing us something real about himself? For having a willingness to be vulnerable in a very public way, at the dawn of a campaign for Congress, no less, when there was no political advantage to be gained? Please consider that you’re part of the problem.
The reason the world of politics has been colonized by unaccountable automatons spewing poll-tested pablum is because any candidate showing even a modicum of frailty gets pounded into the dirt.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of valid reasons to pound on politicians, but admitting to struggling with substance abuse, and seeking the help needed to overcome that challenge, is not one of them.
Every single person living in the state of North Dakota has either struggled with some form of addiction or substance abuse, or they know someone who has. This is a part of the human condition. It touches us all. I’ve struggled with it. I was cited for driving under the influence during a time in my life when I didn’t have my drinking under control, and that prompted me to stop.
A couple of years ago, my oldest sister, who spent most of her life struggling under the burdens of addiction, died estranged and far away from her family, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her.
I’m glad that Thompson was so candid with us in his interview, and I’m sorry that my attempt to call out that raw moment for the public was a bit clumsy. But for the rest of you who think less of Thompson because of his story about struggling with and then overcoming an addiction to alcohol?
