With all the commentary this past week, I want to make clear that this column is not about Sarah Palin, gun laws, our nation's mental health system or Jared Loughner.

It is about U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, but it's also about my uncles, Walter and Elmer Waldow, who served in the Colorado State Legislature and on the Sheridan (Colo.) City Council, respectively. It's about Barack Obama and John Boehner, but it's also about Kyle von Holtum and Cynthia Ann Bettison, who are running for the Silver City Town Council. It's about all the thousands of men and women who run for public office each year at all different levels of government.

Uncle Walt was an onion seed farmer from outside of Olathe. Like many politicians, he was an outgoing, gregarious guy with a warm, easy laugh and an abundance of down-home wisdom. I don't remember if he was a Republican or Democrat, but I suspect people voted for him because they liked him and thought he shared their values. He served briefly, seemed to enjoy the experience, then went happily back to the farm.

Uncle Elm was just as outgoing, but a little more combative. And, his motivation for serving in public office was not quite as benevolent. As I understand it, he got in a beef with the town manager over a building permit, and ran for City Council on a platform of promising to fire the guy.

And that, in a nutshell, is the American political system. It's a wide-open process where anyone can play, and the end result is a mixed bag of

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motivations, aspirations and intentions. Politicians are people with enough self-confidence to put their name on the ballot. Other than that, they are as diverse a group as you would find in any other walk of life.

This Tuesday, 112 men and women from all over the state will gather in Santa Fe to begin the difficult challenge of writing our state's budget and crafting our laws. They are, collectively, older and wealthier than the state population as a whole, but other than that they pretty well reflect the state and the neighborhoods they were sent to represent.

There will be 12 new members this year in the House of Representatives. I suspect a number of them, like our own Terry McMillan, ran because they were unhappy with state government, and instead of just complaining, decided to do something about it. Good for them.

There are all kinds of motivations. Some, like my Uncle Walt's, are strictly altruistic. Others, like my Uncle Elm's, not so much. But the vast majority are there because they honestly want to help move our state forward - even if they can't always agree on what that means or how to achieve it.

I don't blame New Mexicans for being distrustful of politicians. Manny Aragon, Robert Vigil, Michael Montoya, Rebecca Vigil-Giron ... your trust has been violated more than once. But for every Manny Aragon, there is a J. Paul Taylor or a Ben Altamirano.

Skepticism is warranted. So is ethics reform and a demand for greater transparency. But mindless cynicism is not.

Walter Rubel has been a newsman for more than 25 years and is managing editor of the Sun-News. He can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com.