If you don't love it, leave it....

Finally -- showered and (most) laundry done!  Those are two  luxuries i no longer take for granted, i  promise you that.

So what prompts a guy, you may wonder, to leave a six-figure annual salary job to go to trucking school and making (presently) $400 per week?  The answer is not simple. But a large part of it had to do with a growing, and ultimately overpowering, dissatisfaction with lobbying.  I want to be clear that it was not that i had developed a disdain for the profession.  As i have said before, the job is vital to the democratic process and i am firmly an advocate for legislative advocates.  And those who are good at it and are honorable in their approach should be held in the highest esteem.  And of those, i think first and foremost of my dad, Ward Armstrong.

For years he lobbied for the forest products industry and truly set the bar for how lobbyists should conduct themselves in a very difficult environment.  As i came to discover when i got into the field myself, the  name Ward Armstrong was synonymous with integrity, honor, fairness and professionalism.  I can't be more proud of what his name meant, and that i got to follow in his footsteps for a few years.  Dad, you were the best of the best and i'm proud to be your son.

But i found that the profession was not "me", and there were things that just were not a good fit with my style and personality.

Photos: top, Grace being sworn in as an honorary page at the Capitol.  Above, Dad with two of his favorite things -- the Oregon State Beavers and his granddaughter Abby.  Bottom, Dad relaxing in his backyard, on which he and mom work tirelessly.

First, i have learned about myself that i simply do not much like conflict.  And ultimately, lobbying is about resolving conflicts.  And when conflicts cannot be resolved, it is about fighting for your client's side.  And i don't really like even a friendly bar argument over sports, much less doing it for a living.

Second, there is a very small number of legislators with whom i can say it's been a pleasure to work.  I'll name two of the very best:  Rep. Mike Schaufler and former Rep. Carl Wilson.  My respect for them is immense because they not only had integrity for their positions (you always knew where they stood), but they were also the most approachable legislators i've ever met.  The two couldn't be more different in style, but they were peas in a pod in my book when it comes down to what an ideal legislator should be.  Schaufler -- for example -- and i didn't see eye to eye on every issue.  Quite to the contrary, but he always had an open door for me and was always willing to discuss an issue.  And if we didn't agree on this one, we likely did on the next one.  Wilson, for his part, was always the consummate gentleman. He was (and is) simply one of the nicest and most intellectually thoughtful men you will ever meet.  I treasure my experiences working with both of them.

However, i can't say that most are cut from the same molds as these two.  Too often legislators think they are awfully important and really want you to know it.  Working with this latter type became such a grind that i could not stand it any longer.  It sucked the life out of me.

Third, i found that i like working with people, but not necessarily within the confines of a structured SYSTEM.  And politics is nothing if not a well-oiled system that operates like a continuous motion machine.  There are certain ways you do things and certain ways the system works.  And when you stray from that system, you often find failure.  I tend to be much more of a rebel (although i hate the term) and an antagonist to the system, and found the structure of the system to be stifling.  When walking into the Capitol building i often recalled the Pink Floyd song "Welcome to the Machine".

And fourth, i found that i just didn't have the creativity and the energy anymore to care.  As a legislative advocate, you HAVE to care about your client's issues, and you have to care about winning.  You have to love it.  You can get along for a long time without those things, but at some point you owe it to your clients to either give them the best you have or let someone else give it the best they have.  I chose the latter.

Yes, the money was very hard to leave.  It's definitely strange buying t-shirts two-for-$10 at a truck stop instead of $75 apiece at Nordstrom.  But there's a real peace for me in it.  And i certainly know i earned it.  I'll talk in a future blog about the things i find appealing about trucking, but hopefully this one has given you a sense of why i left the old life.  And hopefully you can understand why those things are important to me.  And if not, that's ok too.  We all have different paths and look at the world differently.  My world view is finally coming into focus.

My daughter Grace thinks she would like to be a lobbyist.  It might not have been the right fit for her Dad, but who knows, maybe she'll take after her Poppa.  You go get 'em, girl. Knock 'em dead.

Stay safe everyone....  Use your mirrors.  They are your best friends on the road.

KWA