So, I think most of us have watched as debate after debate and negotiation after negotiation in Washington failed to achieve meaningful compromise over raising the debt ceiling.
I want to believe there was never really any doubt that it was going to happen, because surely the people we have elected, whether Democrat, Republican or Tea Partier, couldn't possibly be dumb enough or selfish enough not to care about the future of our country's economy. And since that's what I want to believe, it makes me all the angrier that these jokers batted our future around like something as meaningless as a shuttlecock while strutting their political feathers to hold onto power. If we as the American people were worth our salt and not embroiled in the drama ourselves, perhaps we would be willing to take a real stand.
Last night, our leaders finally stopped teasing and taunting all of us, and they came to a horrible agreement that accomplishes little, except preventing us from defaulting on financial obligations we as a nation had already committed to.
I haven't made any secret about my liberal leanings, but I have been pleasantly surprised by a couple of the most conservative talking heads acknowledging that we didn't get to a fourteen trillion dollar debt under the leadership of one party. It takes two parties to tango, and while I would always defend the liberal leaders I have voted for and continue to support, I think that's the reality we all have to be willing to see.
As I watch coverage of our leaders walking through the halls of Washington harried and worn by what has played out over the last several weeks, one thing is clear--nobody is celebrating the success of this uneasy agreement and compromise. Conservatives talk about us finally working to get our "fiscal house in order." Liberals talk about the hope that sanity will win out, and we will look at realistic ways to close loopholes for big business and reform our tax code so that the wealthiest people in our country don't continue to line their pockets at the expense of the middle class and the poor.
In the midst of all of this grizzled rhetoric, there was a moment last night that captured the essence of how politics and our leaders have failed us. When Arizona Representative Gabriel Giffords made her way onto the House floor, it was as if for a moment, maybe, everyone remembered that we are all in this together. A Representative elected by her state, and gravely injured in the line of duty reminded us, once again, that the talk has gotten way out of hand.
It seems like it was only yesterday that our nation was in stunned shock when Giffords and eighteen others were shot outside of a grocery store. While I think everyone is well aware that shooter Jared Loughner is mentally ill, in the moment, everyone started talking about how outrageous political rhetoric had become. We suddenly realized that our talk had become very violent and counterproductive. Nobody had come out and said it was right to hunt down and shoot politicians we disagreed with, but nobody had come out and said we shouldn't.
When I think about how outrageous the last few weeks have been, it makes me worry that we haven't learned anything. If I had a dime for every derogatory post on Facebook I've seen about our president and our leaders, I'd be able to have a really nice dinner this weekend. I could get dessert if I had a dime for those that included expletives.
I really wonder if people truly believe that any one of our leaders has specifically set out to destroy our economy, increase unemployment, destroy small business, starve the hungry, deny medical care to the sick, inappropriately arm our troops, or promote abortion as the best birth control option. And yet, if you believe what is said on some of the most popular news programs on television, those are exactly the kinds of things many of our leaders have specifically set out to do.
I can't decide who's more insane, Jared Loughner, people who make these kinds of insane statements, or those of us who believe those statements. Maybe Loughner isn't the only one who needs treatment.
When I think of Gabby Giffords on the House floor, I want to believe that we can recover too. I want to believe that we can go back to being a nation that gave everyone else hope. While I think most of us would agree that our immigration policies and enforcement are a wreck, I long for the days when coming to America and living the American dream was something people from other countries wanted to do. More often than not, immigrants from places other than south of our border only come to seek their education and then take it back home with them. They aren't staying to create jobs and to help restore our nation's greatness.
Maybe it's time for us to ask ourselves why. Maybe it's our mutual disrespect, hate, and outright insanity that turns people off and makes them call us selfish, fat cats who don't care about our neighbors. If we think that we can continue to be a great nation while acting like mad two-year-olds who throw ourselves on the floor when we don't get our way, we should all be in a lock-down facility in Springfield, Missouri with Jared Loughner.
http://youtu.be/bd2B6SjMh_w
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