A lot has changed in politics since I started voting 30 years ago. I remember lots of partisanship during the campaigns, but after the elections were over, the people we elected got to work and did their legislative jobs. That’s not the way things are anymore.
Our politicians keep acting like politicians instead of statesmen after they take office. A prime example is the GOP currently being the party of no and no new ideas, and pressuring junior Representatives to vote along party lines instead of in the best interest of their constituencies.
“Politician” and “statesman” are defined as follows:
Politician has two definitions:
1: a person experienced in the art or science of government; especially: one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government
2 a: a person engaged in party politics as a profession b: a person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow usually short-sighted reasons
Statesman also has two definitions:
1: one versed in the principles or art of government; especially: one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government or in shaping its policies
2: one who exercises political leadership wisely and without narrow partisanship (emphasis added)
The first definition of each word is nearly the same. However, the second definition of each word is significantly different. The second definition of politician is why politicians have a bad name.
Politicians have remained in government instead of putting aside partisanship and working for the common good as the statesmen they are supposed to become after they are sworn into office. Now, it seems like more than a few of our elected officials are constantly running for office and doing what is best to get them re-elected rather than doing what is best for the people, the country or their states and districts. It also seems to me that the voting population doesn’t buy all that crap anymore.
The Blue Dog Democrats who are riding the fence on President Obama’s agenda may find themselves in as much trouble as the Party of No if the economy gets better or worse. If it gets better and people’s representatives didn’t vote for the President’s policies, they may lose their seats for being stupid enough to put themselves on the wrong side of history. If the economy gets worse because the President’s agenda becomes stalled legislation in Congress instead of policies to help the people, they may lose their seats for being obstructionists. If Congress doesn’t stop playing politics and start working as statesmen, they will be in a no-win situation. And the worst part? We the average people will be the ones who suffer.
President Obama is very popular. His poll numbers are better than the popular and electoral margins by which he won the election. We the people are willing to give him a real chance to try his ideas and get our economy moving again. We’re damn near a depression, and if things aren’t done to turn it around, we may experience a Great Depression to rival the 1930’s. Unemployment in March was up to 8.5%. The U.S. economy has lost about 5 million jobs since this recession began 16 months ago.
We learned several hard lessons over the last 25 years about the role of government in our country and in other countries around the world. The GOP wants a significantly smaller government and they tried to do it by privatizing government’s functions from regulating the food supply to supporting the military. Can you say “Halliburton”, “Blackwater” and “KBR”? Their premise is that the free market will take care of itself if government doesn’t interfere. It didn’t work.
The idea is not supported by the facts. Much of what has been deregulated; like investment banks, commercial banks, brokerages and insurance companies that became megabanks too big to fail; effectively sank the world’s economy because their unregulated trading was based on a house of cards. I recommend reading The Big Takeover by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone Magazine this month for the sordid details.
American jobs were shipped over seas or to South America because labor is cheaper and environmental regulations are more lax. There were no incentives to keep companies here and keep Americans employed.
The government paid out far more money in no-bid contracts to privatize military support than it would have cost to have the public sector do the same work. The public and non-profit sectors don’t make a profit, but the private contractors make huge profits, all paid for with public money. There are myriad other examples of public money used to pay contractors in the private sector. For an in depth look, I recommend reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
We have a government, and it has a role. We the people expect our government to act in a statesman-like manner and work for the greater good of the people.
One flaw in the assumptions our Founding Fathers made about their successors was that our leaders would be honorable and statesmen-like after the political fights and debates of elections were over. In today’s world, honor and statesmanship cannot be assumed of anyone until they prove they have them.
Technorati Tags: being the change i wish to see, politician, statesman
written by Sherri Joubert \\ tags: being the change i wish to see, politician, statesman
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