Typical Politics as Usual

As someone who has studied politics and follow it on a regular basis, I feel that there are some things that are common and have been part of the political agenda/political realm for years. One such thing is the what I like to call "You are either blue or red" debate. The Democrats (blue) rally around one side and the Republicans (red) rally around the opposite side. They then use their party and policy preferences to dominate matters that should be looked at more of "a purple matter" not a red/blue matter. These "purple matters" are things that are for the betterment of the majority/mostly everyone or matters that are of a highly serious nature. One such highly serious topic is the recent discussions regarding the forthcoming trials for the 9/11 terrorists. Another topic would be the ongoing health care debate. I can list several topics that come up especially during election cycles.

To keep this as more about substance than rhetoric (something many politicians can learn from especially Republicans in the past year or so), I will focus on what is wrong about things today. I hear over and over that people are being turned off by politics today. They don't trust their politicians. They don't trust that they are truly working for them. Politics has never really been a big attention grabber and when there is more negativity hovering around it then people are going to definitely not want to be interested. But that negativity does bring people out, who often express negative opinions or outrage instead of positive opinions and thanks.

There have been waves of political decorum in Congress and as much as I hate to say we are in the midst of a heavily partisan time period. Democrats may be the party in power, but they have tried to reach across the aisle. Instead of getting a handshake they have been greeted with a slap in the face and a low blow from time to time. We have members of Congress insult the President instead of looking to discuss their differences in private. We have constantly heard "No" to everything and anything that is positive in changing the current health care system. I view it not as much as they don't care about America and the people suffering, but about politics. That view of politics over people can be seen in the arguments by Republicans and conservatives against having a just and fair trial in New York City for terrorists of 9/11. President Bush had eight years to handle terrorists at Guantanamo Bay; now it is in the hands of President Obama.

Voices of opposition are natural and will occur in the decades ahead. Republicans and conservatives have their opinions and values. Democrats and liberals have their opinions and values. Those differences will always create friction and difficulties will constantly occur. But what I implore politicians especially those in Congress, is to stop thinking about yourselves so much and trying to get reelected. Stop trying to prevent the opposing party from having success if it means that the American people will suffer from and only you will have "a victory." I know I can't change many people's opinions and views, but I do offer some constructive advice: try to move to the middle. If you sit in the middle you are able to do things that assist those who represent the left and assist those who represent the right. Politics has always been dirty, but politics as usual needs to change. America's early politicians and founding fathers warned against factions. The way that Madison talked about factions were mostly focused on majority and minority parties. To me, though, the biggest downfall of factions is that they create walls of politicians. Democrats form one wall and Republicans form another wall. They walls are either only blue or only red. However, imagine a purple wall. A wall made up of red and blue politicians forming one wall and red and blue politicians forming another wall.

This sounds like a crazy metaphor, but there is something to it. We have seen legislation with John McCain and Russ Feingold as the co-sponsors. We have seen legislation with Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch as the co-sponsors. However, all we see today is Harry Reid/Dick Durbin and the Democrats against Mitch McConnell/Jon Kyl and the Republicans. Or Nancy Pelosi/Steny Hoyer and the Democrats against John Boehner/Eric Cantor and the Republicans. The more that Democrats and Republicans work alongside each other and try to compromise the better all of us we off. That has been the true downfall that has seemed to emerge more than ever in the past decade. Stop playing political games and start serving. Use fact not fiction. That is what I know I would hope to do if I was serving my state/district in Congress. This perspective should be applied to those in the media and other roles who have a voice and could impact opinion. Those in the public eye owe it to the American people because as much as I hate to say it; there are way too many paranoid or uneducated people out there. That is where my argument's core truly comes from. The more of the same only hurts our future.

I implore those who care enough to read and do your homework and you will see through the lies. If you only listen and not read, you only get half the story. That half is usually the side that doesn't paint politics in a good light. That half is the side that involves the fight between two sides who are mixed and integrated with members of both sides of the aisle. The day that politics and rhetoric stop being used as a policy initiative for the betterment of one party or another then that is the day that politics as usual might finally be over.