I'm actually of the opinion that the vast majority of people who are legislators and government officials are good people trying to do work that will be valued by other people who support them. As a whole, they appear to perform disgracefully, and there are some good reasons that we think so, but on an individual level, I'm sure there is more good than bad.
That doesn't mean I will agree with all of their ideas, but I really think if you believe in what you are doing, and you are personally, professionally and financially ready to undertake a campaign and all that comes with it, you should do it.
My position is, why not you? If it's not you, it will be someone else. If you think you're the best person for the job who could run, why would you subject your fellow citizens to any less?
Lots of people try to campaign who aren't ready to campaign, or don't have a good enough reason for enough other people (volunteers, voters, the media, etc.) to acknowledge the importance of their campaign. Or they're just not the right person to carry the message.
The prime example that stays with me is when I was tight with the LP, and I would see these virtual paper candidates go around telling people how they should be elected because they were going to protect everyone's liberty better than the kind of government they have now (be it local, state, federal, etc).
The people who vote might care about liberty in an abstract way, but in practice their votes are presently related to job creation, road construction, the cost of living, etc.
I would never want to run for office not being sure I'm in at least in a position to have the opportunity to make the difference I would want to make.
