Where do you get your self worth?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

For the past year, I have served as the Chairman of the Mississippi Freedom Caucus, and in that position, I have talked to a lot of potential candidates. Our process generally begins with the candidate completing a lengthy questionnaire. Once their answers are submitted, their responses are reviewed by members of the caucus and members of our steering committee.

If the candidates answers are generally good, and by good, I mean they fit within the caucus philosophy of government, then we move further in the process.

Somewhere along the way, there is a telephone conversation with myself or a member of our steering committee where we review their answers on the questionnaire and dive a little deeper into their ideas and philosophy of government.

There is one question that I believe is the most important for any candidate to answer. That question is, Where do you get your self-worth?

Now most of us know the "proper" answer because in Mississippi, most of us, especially those of us who are conservative, have spent our lives in church. So the immediate answer is usually "my relationship with God, or Jesus". I’m not telling you that’s the wrong answer; actually, according to my preacher, it is the only answer, and I believe he is correct. But putting aside the fact that we all know the answer we are supposed to give, Where do you get your self-worth?

It is very important that every politician answer this question honestly and privately. Because where and how you obtain your self-worth is crucial to how you will make decisions once elected.

What does it mean to say you get your self-worth from God? How does that change you and the decisions you make?

If you get your self-worth from God, does it matter to you if the Speaker of the House is upset with you? Does it affect your decisions if you are taken off the governor’s party invitation list?

If you are a “people pleaser” how to you correlate that with your answer that you get your self-worth from God?

These are important questions that every politician must answer, or they will be lost in the maze of lobbyists, constituents, bureaucrats, and leadership.