In his
farewell address as the nation’s first president, George Washington warned
against the evils of partisan spirit in government.
More than
200 years later, his fear and the evils he warned against are real and
threatening the very fiber of this country. The state of partisanship in
Washington-on-the-Deficit is a national embarrassment and is shared by both
parties and their collective wing-groups.
The clamor
in the media by those who hold their labels like shields of righteousness –
from Rush “Say Whatever It Takes To Keep the Vitriol Flowing” Limbaugh to
Rachel “Madcow” Maddow, from Al “No One Will Out-Liberal Me” Sharpton to Bill
“Trust Me! This is All True” O’Reilly – should give every voter with common
sense what three generations ago was called “biliousness.”
These
folks should not be considered voices for reason and progress: They are
entertainers who push buttons to … dare I say it? … make money. That is, and
will be, their reason for being.
It is a
clarion cry from the conservatives in general that the “liberal media” is
setting the national political agenda and pushes Democratic ideas and ideals.
Yet, not one word about how the Top 5 political commentators on television are
of the conservative bent.
Are they
talking about newspapers? Probably, yes. But every single major daily in the
United States has a variety of columnists who take both sides of an issue and
dissect it in harsh conservative and liberal slices.
What then
is the problem?
In a
phrase: Special interests. Politicians – practically ALL politicians from local
to national – are bought and sold on
every major issue. If an elected official claims otherwise … mouth moving … you
know.
The
reality of politics is that it takes money to get elected and a vast majority
of politicians or would-be politicians solicit donations from citizens. There
are many folks who donate to political campaigns because they believe in or
associate with the ideals of a particular candidate.
Most
money, though, comes from deep-pocketed special interests who want something
back for their contribution. Give-and-take: It’s a simple byproduct of the political
system.
In the
national political arena, there are a few (a very, very few) politicians from
both parties who really want change and worked hard to achieve it. They were
buried by their colleagues, who crave power and one-upmanship status above all
else.
Both
parties are at fault; there are no winners in the present political climate.
But each
party has a duty to be true to their core beliefs. It is a fact of political
life today that the Democrats have the upper hand in the national voter base
due to the diversity of the population and the party catering to that base. In that regard, and finding middle ground on issues that matter to a majority of voters, the GOP has not a clue. Hardcore Republicans seem hell-bent on aiding and abetting the party's slide into irrelevancy.
Despite
the recent election in which Republicans proved beyond a reasonable doubt they
didn’t have a clue about how to win THAT election, nothing seems to have
changed. Party leaders are still taking a hard line on certain issues that a majority of Americans oppose. Standing up on principle is an admirable trait; in certain situations, refusing to compromise simply rings the death bell louder.
To make
matters worse, I heard a Republican congressmen say the other day that he was
“an Old Guard Republican,” but then went on a harangue about immigration, the importance
of military might with little restraint, protecting the wealthy, abortion, etc.
All I
could do was shake my head and reflect back on what one centrist Republican,
former Sen. Mark Hatfield from Oregon, said upon his retirement in 1996: “I’m
an Old Guard Republican. The founders of our party were for small business,
education, cutting the military budget. That was our platform in 1856 and I
think it’s still a darned good one.”
Meanwhile,
the rancor grows louder.
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