Our America - The Mayor: Our America, #1

By David Bassett

CAN NICE GUYS WIN AT POLITICS? 

Our America – The Mayor is a story about Bob Griffith, an average citizen.  Bob has had much success in his young life.  He is a successful manager, educated, and possessed with great people skills.  He is caring towards all people and loving towards his wife.  Bob is on the path of great professional success.

Through the encouragement of his wife, Bob is persuaded to seek public office as the Mayor of Hilliard, Ohio.  Though he is an upstanding citizen, Bob has absolutely no political experience. Despite his good morals and Christian faith, Bob begins to see the political arena for what it is: a place of combat unlike he has ever expected or experienced.

Politics in America is messy, at times destructive, and not for the faint of heart.  Bob is challenged between choosing his inner passion to serve, being a help to others or avoiding the ugly, conniving ways of politics.

Does good ever win in this world just because it is good?  Or, does only evil, packaging itself as good, win all the time?  These are the challenging questions that haunt Bob and you, the reader.

If you find you enjoy considering politics and the possibilities it brings, then join Bob on this journey to discover if he has a place in the political arena of public service.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Bassett
• Release date: Aug 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386760030

David Bassett

David is a prolific Christian writer. His message is that everyone matters. They matter to God. There is value and life purpose for every single person. He is passionate to communicate in his writings that you, the reader, are a valuable part of society and you are greatly loved. His first book, Josiah – Passing on the Legacy, is the first volume in a six-part saga. He is passionate in his pursuits to defeat human trafficking around the world. Born in Norwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, David was the oldest child of his parents. Some of his accomplishments include a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northwest Nazarene University and a master’s degree in Leadership from Walden University. He is an accomplished speaker, actively involved in Toastmasters International. His wife, June, is his beautiful muse and partner. His children, David, Josh, and Lindsey, are his greatest treasures. His love extends to his grandchildren, Jonas and Sonja, as well as his step-children, Aaron, Alyssa, and Austin, and his step-grandsons, Jacob and Wade.

Book preview

Dedication

This book is a political drama.  It speaks to both the good and bad that exists in our politics.

We only have this political culture because of the men and women who have served in the various branches of our military.  It is because of their service, we have the freedom to publicly express opinions and act on those freedoms.

While I have not served in any branch of our military, I have great respect for the men and women who have.  It is with great gratitude that I wish to dedicate this book to them.  We would not have the ‘luxury’ of politics if it weren’t for their willingness to lay their lives on the line to ensure our freedoms.

Some of the finest people I know, including my brother Grant, are serving, have served, or have retired from military service.  Thank them whenever you can.  Do not wait for an official holiday.  Do it today!

Thank you, everyone who has served.  Thank you to the family members that have held down the fort called home so that their loved one could serve for all of us.

We are all winners who walk in freedom because of you!

David

Chapter 1 - The Decision

Honey, I think you should go for it, Dixie said firmly.  She rarely considered strongly advising her husband about anything.  Generally, she chose to take an encouraging role, usually just agreeing with him.  This time, though, she could sense that he needed a push.

Bob Griffith sat silently at the kitchen table.  His mind was racing with arguments against and for this.  He had never submitted himself to public scrutiny.  It bothered him to even have anyone run his credit because it made him feel vulnerable and invaded.

His silence let his wife know that he had not heard her.  She saw this look before when he retreated inward with his thoughts.  It was a skill that he developed, being able to shut out everyone and everything so he could think.  Many times, she had admired this quality, but not now.

So, she moved to stand right beside him.  When his head did not move to look up at her, she placed the dish towel she had been using, on his hands.  The wet texture captured and returned his attention back to the present.

Placing her hands on her hips, Dixie leaned into her husband.  She was not going to allow herself to be unheard any longer, at least not in this conversation.

I think, Bob, you should go for it.

She planted a kiss on top of his head.  She knelt to bring her face level with his, assuring herself of eye contact.

You need to do this.

Bob could tell in her tone that she was resolute about this.  There was no hint of doubt or hesitation.  Clearly, for her, it was a decided matter.

Playfully, he picked up the dish towel and tossed it at her.  He smirked then looked away.  Bob did not like for his wife to take control, especially in a decision like this.  In his heart, though, her words sounded right.

The twenty-eight-year-old husband stood.  His lean body was the result of a combination of his youthfulness, and occasional workouts.  Oh, and there was the summer softball league.

His mind was sharp.  Bob was a mid-level manager at the local production facility for a national fencing company.  Many of his recommendations had been adopted to streamline processes.  Once, he was even able to convince the plant manager to consider and then obtain, a twelve percent wage increase for the senior production crew members.

Bob and Dixie faithfully attended the community church, a non-denominational local ministry.  They contributed generously.  They were drawn to the active participation the church had in community service, from school supplies for several elementary schools, to a food pantry.

Dixie was drawn to Bob by his balanced life.  They met seven years earlier.  Bob was a senior at the state university, studying business.  He had avoided dating the first three years in college, because he did not want to get distracted from his studies.  By his senior year, he felt confident that he would complete and graduate from the business school of the university and so he passively began looking to date.

Dixie was two years behind him in school.  They met in a core class that Bob had managed to avoid his first three years.  Now, if he did not complete it, graduation might be questionable.  He avoided the class earlier only because he wanted to cater first to his personal interest and second to the mandatory coursework that a liberal arts degree required.

They were both assigned to a team of eight that was required to complete the major project for the course.  Their team needed to meet outside of class time to coordinate roles and duties for the project. 

At the first of these outside class time meetings the other six team members were late, giving Bob and Dixie a chance to get acquainted.  There was an instant connection between them.  They made a point to spend some extra time before and after each meeting that followed.

Once the team project was done, they decided to continue seeing each other.  As they dated, they fell in love.  They found themselves quite compatible in their worldviews, faith issues, and general perspectives.

Though he was a very private person, Bob found it easy to share the details of his life with Dixie.  She was a good listener, who showed no indication that she was ever judging him.  Whenever he seemed to waffle or contradict himself, she would call him on it quickly.  Though it frustrated him the moment it happened, he realized that she was encouraging him to become a better man.  He liked this.

Dixie was far more outgoing than Bob.  When it came to social situations, it seemed like she was always having to pull him along.  His social side seemed undeveloped, even immature, to her.  Though she could have been easily frustrated by this side of him, instead, she took it as a challenge.  If she gained his trust in other areas, she was convinced that he would trust her enough to come out of his social-inhibiting cocoon.

At times, their dating did not feel like dating at all.  It was their friendship that grew faster than their romance.  While neither of them pushed the physical aspect of their relationship, the result seemed to be a greater respect for one another.  There was never a hint of jealously on the part of either one of them.  They could be apart and be fine with that.  For them, it did make their time together more enriching.

Bob had been hired right after graduation into an entry-level manager position.  The work came easy to him, so he focused on developing his leadership skills.  As he learned better how to lead and work with people, Bob began to gain favorable attention from all levels of management.  He was becoming an up-and-rising star.

Dixie was finishing up her bookkeeping studies.  Working with numbers came naturally for her, but what interested her more was interpreting them.  She was not satisfied with figures only, she wanted to know what they meant.

Two years after Bob graduated, they got married.  They decided to wait until Dixie had also graduated.  It was hard for both, waiting those two years.  Several times they discussed not waiting, or living together, but they shared a Christian faith that encouraged them to wait until marriage before they slept together.

Ok, Bob said.  I will run for mayor.

Chapter 2 - It Is About the Party

Cain was, at first blush, an average, ordinary man.  That all changed when you observed him in action.  Though, there was nothing intimidating in his physical appearance, his personality was gruff and abrasive.  He was a brilliantly focused, driven man and nothing deterred him from his goals, nothing.

After graduating from the Ohio State University with a business degree, Cain went into car sales.  He was the type of salesman who never took ‘no’ for an answer.  Every objection he would handle astutely but his gruffness left the prospect feeling cornered.

He viewed sales as a competition.  Every person that walked onto the lot, he saw as an opponent.  His only goal was to make a sale, that day, from that person.  No one ever felt comfortable, or even safe, to say ‘no’ or ‘later’ to him.

Some may have seen him as gifted at persuading people.  If you were to watch him without hearing him, he would give the appearance of a good communicator and connector.  You would think of him as a good people person because he regularly got the sale.

What Cain enjoyed most about car sales, was the opportunity to bully people.  He would start as if he were their best friend.  Adroitly, he would discover the individual’s weakness to the sales pitch and exploited the prospect, often emotionally, until they could not say ‘no’.  Having a prospect cornered with no way out but to say ‘yes’ thrilled him.

He quickly realized that what he thirsted most for was power.  Having the power over people,