The state of American politics is gravely disturbing. We talk of bipartisan rancor as commonplace. Report on the animus between the Administration and Congressional members of the opposing party. We cannot wait to see the verbal smack downs between political pundits replayed on the next cycle of the news, all of which says something about where we are as a culture. Reality TV, it appears, has permeated not just our television screens, but every aspect of our national identity.
The problem with operating from a premise like that is that it sounds Neo-Conservative. It sounds like the kind of thinking that in many ways has gotten us into this mess. The same thinking that blames all the ills of our country on something or someone other than those who should hold blame. It’s the liberal media. It’s the death of morality, and it’s the end of traditional values. It’s Gay marriage. It’s Feminism. It’s access to birth control. For a party that is so opposed to abortion and all “methods” of family planning, the irony of Speaker Boehner’s Plan B was out right hilarious. After the release of the voting results, admittedly I spent hours trying to figure out what he was thinking. Why was he exposing himself and his ostensible lack of leadership? Why was he conspiring with a few dozen petulant children disguised as Congressmen to railroad our Country?
For a culture that has taken a dismal turn away from personal or collective responsibility and dove headlong into monetizing the bad behavior of its citizens, there are still certain places where one expects a tad bit of comportment. Congress seems like it should be at the height of that list. But, this thing happened. They called it the Tea Party Revolution. What it amounted to was a pseudo-Congressional Circus Sideshow. One that no one, not even their constituents, was able to control. And, as fate would have it, they were elected for precisely that reason. We Americans willingly handed over our collective leadership to the undulating antics of Girls Gone Wild, 112th Congress edition. Talk about buyer’s remorse.
It was only through that lens that I was able to surmise what if anything positive could come out of the Plan B vote. Though I’m sure the embarrassment of the immediate failure of the measure to pass the House stung, perhaps, it was more the bee sting to show America that we’re allergic to this nonsense and less the political suicide I initially thought that it was. How else could he save face and for that matter the legacy of his leadership? This current buzz word climate is not going to allow him much leverage; it is after all the favorite right wing attack against the President. If I did not know better, I would believe that Boehner was a mole. But, in all seriousness, his only hope of preserving any part of his legacy was to allow our country to see how tragic things really are. The vote for Speaker only punctuated an already clear message.
They are holding us hostage. Fight after fight to redefine or obliterate everything this country has fought to become. If it’s not the cliff, which, by the way, raised EVERYONE'S taxes despite all of their groans against ever raising taxes – sorry Grover there was no spin that could have made that ---- shinny, then it is the looming debt ceiling or every other fiscal responsibility of the government. It is clear that these people –I use the term kindly- are determined to wage a by any means necessary, take no prisoners, so much for protecting women, kids and seniors, guerrilla politics war. Mr. Speaker I would have Plan B’d myself too.
When are we going to say enough? Will it be 2014, will we wait that long? Must they pin us to the mat and make us say uncle before we fire the lot of them and go back to running a Nation? If the twitterverse is any indication, hell will be an exceptionally cold place before we resolve this amicably. We were once a nation of political differences couched in civility. We have become the land of vitriol and name calling, and the louder one yells the crazy the more people seem to want to give them a microphone. It has to end. Politics has become better reality TV than reality TV.
There is no morning after pill for the people we elect. No quick fix to edit the people we trust to pass or reject laws on our behalf. We have a reasonable expectation of their ability to handle the duties of the position to which we elected them, but, more often than not, they fall woefully short. They in turn, have a fiduciary responsibility to govern, which somewhere along the line vacated Washington like the winter break.
I have never believed in one party rule. I think a world where one train of thought has full autonomy is an extremely dangerous world, but my God is it getting hard to justify bipartisanship these days. We must stop the shenanigans. Let’s stop the hot button divisiveness, mudslinging and radical partisanship. We have sold our soul to the Tea Party, and it is way past time to get it back. It is time to mute the Koch brothers and the Super PACs. Time to stop giving Palin, Beck and Coulter air time, time to stop trying to elect the Allen West’s of the world. It is time to bring a new generation of serious thinkers to Washington. It’s time We the People, started thinking for ourselves.
2014 cannot come soon enough.
The problem with operating from a premise like that is that it sounds Neo-Conservative. It sounds like the kind of thinking that in many ways has gotten us into this mess. The same thinking that blames all the ills of our country on something or someone other than those who should hold blame. It’s the liberal media. It’s the death of morality, and it’s the end of traditional values. It’s Gay marriage. It’s Feminism. It’s access to birth control. For a party that is so opposed to abortion and all “methods” of family planning, the irony of Speaker Boehner’s Plan B was out right hilarious. After the release of the voting results, admittedly I spent hours trying to figure out what he was thinking. Why was he exposing himself and his ostensible lack of leadership? Why was he conspiring with a few dozen petulant children disguised as Congressmen to railroad our Country?
For a culture that has taken a dismal turn away from personal or collective responsibility and dove headlong into monetizing the bad behavior of its citizens, there are still certain places where one expects a tad bit of comportment. Congress seems like it should be at the height of that list. But, this thing happened. They called it the Tea Party Revolution. What it amounted to was a pseudo-Congressional Circus Sideshow. One that no one, not even their constituents, was able to control. And, as fate would have it, they were elected for precisely that reason. We Americans willingly handed over our collective leadership to the undulating antics of Girls Gone Wild, 112th Congress edition. Talk about buyer’s remorse.
It was only through that lens that I was able to surmise what if anything positive could come out of the Plan B vote. Though I’m sure the embarrassment of the immediate failure of the measure to pass the House stung, perhaps, it was more the bee sting to show America that we’re allergic to this nonsense and less the political suicide I initially thought that it was. How else could he save face and for that matter the legacy of his leadership? This current buzz word climate is not going to allow him much leverage; it is after all the favorite right wing attack against the President. If I did not know better, I would believe that Boehner was a mole. But, in all seriousness, his only hope of preserving any part of his legacy was to allow our country to see how tragic things really are. The vote for Speaker only punctuated an already clear message.
They are holding us hostage. Fight after fight to redefine or obliterate everything this country has fought to become. If it’s not the cliff, which, by the way, raised EVERYONE'S taxes despite all of their groans against ever raising taxes – sorry Grover there was no spin that could have made that ---- shinny, then it is the looming debt ceiling or every other fiscal responsibility of the government. It is clear that these people –I use the term kindly- are determined to wage a by any means necessary, take no prisoners, so much for protecting women, kids and seniors, guerrilla politics war. Mr. Speaker I would have Plan B’d myself too.
When are we going to say enough? Will it be 2014, will we wait that long? Must they pin us to the mat and make us say uncle before we fire the lot of them and go back to running a Nation? If the twitterverse is any indication, hell will be an exceptionally cold place before we resolve this amicably. We were once a nation of political differences couched in civility. We have become the land of vitriol and name calling, and the louder one yells the crazy the more people seem to want to give them a microphone. It has to end. Politics has become better reality TV than reality TV.
There is no morning after pill for the people we elect. No quick fix to edit the people we trust to pass or reject laws on our behalf. We have a reasonable expectation of their ability to handle the duties of the position to which we elected them, but, more often than not, they fall woefully short. They in turn, have a fiduciary responsibility to govern, which somewhere along the line vacated Washington like the winter break.
I have never believed in one party rule. I think a world where one train of thought has full autonomy is an extremely dangerous world, but my God is it getting hard to justify bipartisanship these days. We must stop the shenanigans. Let’s stop the hot button divisiveness, mudslinging and radical partisanship. We have sold our soul to the Tea Party, and it is way past time to get it back. It is time to mute the Koch brothers and the Super PACs. Time to stop giving Palin, Beck and Coulter air time, time to stop trying to elect the Allen West’s of the world. It is time to bring a new generation of serious thinkers to Washington. It’s time We the People, started thinking for ourselves.
2014 cannot come soon enough.
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