I miss "politics as usual"

I see a disturbing trend in America these days, my friends. Political jockeying, lies, deception, back stabbing, closed door negotiations, name calling, smear campaigning, general distrust, and just an overall hatred of those across the aisle. This is occurring on both sides and coming even from the middle. General differences in ideology have lead to complete disillusion. The Great Decider, George W. Bush, often referred to as the Great Divider for the ill will that his administration created among Democrats, never seemed to be able to control the spin, but it never got this out of hand. And now we have a president who came in believing he would heal the wounds and close the divide…where has that gotten us? Democratic wrangling of a health care bill that, dare I say it, may be the greatest legislation in history (or the biggest blunder in politics) has left a bad taste in the mouths of Republicans. But worse, they didn’t control the outflow of information to the masses. Republican pundits had the upper hand from day one because “universal health care” are buzz words that fundamentalist Republicans gasp at. So as soon as they even started thinking about writing a bill, the Republican talking heads were on the warpath to shoot it down. They didn’t control the spin, they didn’t control the rhetoric, and they didn’t deliver on the President’s promise of open health care negotiations on CSPAN until it was too late. Now almost a full half of the people in American claiming allegiance to the Republican Party is foaming at the mouth over the new health care law. I read today that there have even been death threats against Democratic members of Congress because of this bill passing. If George Bush was the Great Divider, then President Obama is the Super Mega Ultimate Divider (like the Voltron of dividers).

This is not meant to be a jab at President Obama. Though I don’t agree with what he has done or tried to do since coming to office, he is the President of the United States and deserves respect. I just wish there was somebody in his ear whispering this one piece of advice, “Stop reading your own press clippings.” Coaches tell their players that when they get too cocky and I believe that President Obama may have always been just a little too cocky. That’s something fundamentalist right-wingers don’t take too kindly to, especially from a Democrat. The bigger issue seems to be that the cockiness doesn’t stop at the President’s desk. Ever since the Democratic Party gained control of the administration, it feels as if they have gotten more and more cocky. And this cock-sure attitude extends down through the party to the common man on the street, who feels because he is a Democrat he is essentially smarter than any Republican and knows exactly what every American needs. I read comments on news articles on the web and you can tell who is who. The Republicans are the ones continually spouting hate filled pundit rhetoric. The Democrats are the ones calling the Republicans idiots, cheering on Obama, and criticizing others with a dubious air of superiority.

An inflated sense of self-importance is not just a Democratic disposition. The Republican Party is guilty of their own brand of cockiness. Most Republicans (I am often guilty of this myself) believe that if they don’t believe it is a good idea, then it definitely isn’t. You could see this all through the health care debates. The Democrats were coming up with some excellent fixes (and some incredibly stupid ones) for rising health care costs in America, but because they weren’t Republican ideas, they were no good. So, we (Republicans) complained that there were none of our good ideas in the legislation, so the whole thing must be ridiculous and useless. I’ve seen the error of that kind of thinking, and have tried to be of my own mind about what has happened, along with many other Republicans who are not swayed by the pundit’s propaganda, but our own intelligence and personal beliefs. I loathe the fact that there are people out there who claim affiliation with the Tea Party, which is nothing more than a good joke gone horribly wrong. I fear for my political party’s credibility when I read news of death threats against Democrats. When is the madness going to end and good ol’ fashion know-how and political maneuvering going to come into play?

These are desperate times for both Democrats and Republicans. The country is a mess…not as bad as Greece or Spain, but bad enough that people are feeling it on almost all levels in one way or another. So I am asking, when will the ludicrous posturing end and people get back to healthy forms of discussion and debate? Put down your Tea Party banners and your silly “GObama” signs and come sit down and discuss what we need to work on next. If you don’t, this rampant partisan behavior will soon cripple all levels of government. Everyone, registered voters of America, mid-term elections are coming in November and I think it is time to stand up and say you don’t want this type of government anymore. Two years of back and forth punching and bullying is more than enough. Vote out everyone, Republican and Democrat, who allowed what should have been the most important and involved debate of the last fifty years, health care reform, turn into a school yard brawl for superiority. If the President really believed in change, and this is the change he’s creating, maybe he needs to think about stopping the change. But this doesn’t fall solely on him. The Republican Party needs to get its act together and back to basics: smaller government, state’s rights, and “status quo”. The Democrats need to get back to their basics too: big government, regulation, and “reform”. That is why we have two parties, because they conflict and complement each other. When you go off the grid and become Tea Party or Progressive, then you lose sight of the vast majority of America, the moderate left to the moderate right.

There are probably some of you out there who will say that George W. Bush is responsible for where we are. The divides he created lead to the even greater divides we see now. George Bush didn’t divide anything when he was the Governor of Texas, and I fail to see how he would create a divide in Washington either. It’s usually the ones who are causing the divide that blame someone else for the division. It would be like the division sign saying it is one’s fault for two dividing it. Two wouldn’t divide one if the damn division sign wasn’t there. That’s neither here nor there. The point I’m trying to make is that if you are on the right or the left and are feeding the ill will or popular misinformation of this debate or any feel you may do so in the future, you should think twice about how much you love America, because you are the ones changing it, distorting it…not the elected officials in Washington.