Just counted the “I” word in the emails from just two of our elected public servants (one at the state level; another, state). Could be a significant contributor to the divided ideological crap that’s afflicted Harrisburg and Washington.

I authored

I have long been

I am a co-sponsor

I did

I wanted to hear

I wasn’t expecting

I am pursuing

I laid out

I was glad

I chaired

I am working

I cannot imagine

I delivered

I will not give up

I joined

I am working

I have introduced

I visited

I was proud

 

The two gentlemen below, in far more trying times, demonstrated far less “I-go-tistical” use of the word “I.”

In George Washington’s first Inaugural Address, he used I in these ways:

I was summoned

I can never hear

I had chosen

I dare aver

I dare hope

I have been too much swayed

I have

I assure myself

I trust

I now meet

I behold

I dwell

I shall again give way

I assure myself

I have one to add

I was first honoured

I contemplated my duty

I should renounce

I have in no instance departed

I must decline

I shall take my present leave

Abraham Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address:

I appear before you

I do not consider

I do but quote

I have no purpose

I believe I have no lawful right

I had made this

I now read

I now read

I now read

I take the official oath

I do suggest

I now enter upon

I hold that

I therefore consider

I shall take care

I shall perform

I trust this will not

I will neither affirm nor deny

I need address

I do not forget

I can not be ignorant

While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize

I will venture

I understand

I have not seen

I have no objection

I am loath to close.