Balancing Principles and the Needs of Our Country
The election results are in our thoughts as to whether the present relationship between Congress and the President will change. Both political parties are identified to have certain principles and while this is important it is also important to address the needs of our country. This goes for both political parties. I believe individuals should not sacrifice their principles simply to get an issue resolved. Some would say this has been the problem with Congress in the past and to some extent I would agree. One point to make is that having principles as an individual and within a political party does not mean that principles cannot be maintained while issues facing our country.
The election results changed the makeup of Congress but it still leaves it divided with the Democrats remaining in control of the Senate and Republicans remaining in control of the House of Representatives. After the election there was evidence from both political parties that they may be willing to work with each other and the President to address issues facing our country. Whether this signals an attempt to change the culture of Congress it is a good sign. Both political parties must remember one thing. Their positions are not set in stone and they can be removed the next time they are up for election. While there may be some who found their way back to Congress based on the political makeup of their district or state the demographics of the voting results brought many surprises.
The choices for both political parties are few if they are to tackle the growing problems with the current structure and culture of government. The present problems were in the minds of voters as the cast their ballots but it also appears that they did not want one political party to be in control of both houses of Congress. The gridlock we have seen in Congress has I believe has sometimes been the result of political party principles. As mentioned earlier it is important to have principles for which you stand for but the principles on which this country was found are the ones in which Congress should be paying attention.
There are many critical issues which must be addressed before the end of the year and the principles in place by both political parties must achieve a balance to address the issues at hand. There is always going to be certain principles on which neither party may be reluctant to budge but many times the principles of each political party have the same objective but different paths to get there. It is important in the coming weeks to focus on the commonality of the principles from both parties and create a framework where each side gives something. Neither party is going to get everything they want but whatever actions are taken before the next Congress they must be based on sound principles which have been proven to work in the past.
Our country has been in tough spots in our history and we have come out of these situations stronger through decisions made that made sense. We must learn from history what actions need to be taken to bring our fiscal house in order. A divided Congress is not a bad thing like some have made it to be. Principles or not decisions need to be made before the end of the year but they need to be the right decisions. Our elected officials should not worry about if they will remain in the elected capacity after the next election but making the right decisions with respect to the principles on which this country was found. While not everyone is happy with the election results let us hope both political parties can come together regardless of their differences in principle and create a path for the future that will be better than the past.
