Monday, December 02, 2013

Following Blindly Has Its Pitfalls

Two items caught my attention while reading online headlines.  One, a lot of Democrats are still running from the President.  Two, Chris Christie's "bazaar behavior" may hurt his presidential aspirations.

It strikes me as a no win situation.  One that shouldn't be, no matter your politics.

Both sides are like lemmings following their leadership over the cliff into the sea.  Oh sure, both sides have their rebellious types,  the Tea Party Republicans and the Progressive Democrats.  They are the spoilers and proud of it.  That nothing moves forward means nothing as long as it works out to harm the opposition. Any opposition, even if within their own party.  That's forward thinking!

On the Democratic side, they'd not have to be running from the President if they hadn't blindly voted for Obamacare.  If they had voted the truth of the legislation it probably would not have passed, there was so much not addressed and so much flawed it was just plain bad legislation.   But politics being what they are today, they caved to either bribery or threats from their leadership.  Work with the each other?   Not on your life.

On the other hand, the die hard Republican absolutists will not forgive Chris Christie for the liberal leanings he sometimes has taken to be able to govern his state.

Maybe that's what needs to be scrutinized. How do we get back to the methods that get the most good done?  Certainly not following blindly because you are a member of a particular party.  Those who do are putting party,  ideology and career before country. The result has been a President who ignores the Constitution and cherry picks what will and will not be enforced and gets a pass and Secretaries with far too much "shall" power.

Christie, he probably isn't alone though he gets the press, knows that flexibility gets things done.  Would he be as flexible if he were in a Red state?  I can't say for sure, but I would hope so.  As is, however, he is forced to look at both sides to get things done and he has done just that. If I can assume, which is dangerous, this is his philosophy on effective governance.

I hope sometime between now and the 2014 mid-terms both the politicians and the voters see the light.  How much more of this agony and ecstasy emotional see saw can the country take?

If I want to see glee I'll watch the TV show.  I'm tired of watching it in Congress when one side or the other stumbles.  The problem is there is no one around to pick any one up.  They're too busy cheering the fall and we're too busy trying to patch up the mess. 

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