The Disaster Of Party Politics
In light of the looming national debt ceiling debate it appears that America’s elected officials have opted out of any rational approach to tackling the fast approaching debt tsunami!
It seems they have abandoned any level of courage or common sense as we their constituents wait for some semblance of denouement to abort this pending disaster!
There comes a time when politics should take a back seat to doing what’s right for the nation. There is no doubt this is one of those times.
Although it’s true we officially have a two party political system in this country, somehow it doesn’t seem like it. As of last November there is now a sizeable faction of freshman members inside the Republican Party, known as the Tea Party. Apparently, they aim to represent a more radical and hardcore " anti-government " viewpoint.
So with these three groups of politicians pointing fingers at one another we are left wondering who is manning the battle station. We need leadership that is willing to tackle this very serious quandary of growing debts that threaten to cause us to default on our national financial obligations for the first in history!
The Problem
America is approaching what is known as the National Debt Ceiling. In reality this is a self-imposed boundary that Congress uses as a tool to control how much our Federal Government borrows to sustain it’s operations.
In simplistic terms, it’s like a family approaching the limit on what they can borrow on their credit cards. Of course, the biggest failure of such an analogy is that the family cardholders don't determine their own credit limitations.
Its true that the credit limit numbers for a family may run into the thousand or perhaps even in some cases millions of dollars. The nation, on the other hand, is facing the threat of surpassing a staggering debt limit of 14.9 trillion dollars! Interestingly enough the solution for fixing both state of affairs are based around the same common sense principles.
Seriously, when you take a moment to really think about it, our politicians are abdicating their sworn oaths to represent and conduct governance on behalf of the people who elected them. That’s quite a statement, especially from the StayPos corner of the world :-)
I’m usually writing about the positive slant on everything, but in this case there isn't really much to say regarding this except that it resembles a bunch of grown ups acting like children playing in a big sand box!!
The Solution
Now the purpose of this discussion is not centered around which party is exclusively right in their approach to fixing these problems. In my opinion it’s about something of much greater importance, which is how we get our government to get back to actually working again for the American people.
If a family is spending money indiscriminately, and has no idea of how to budget any of its finances we would all agree that at some point that behavior will have calamitous consequences. The exact same thing applies to the nation. Although the solutions for the nation are much more complicated in terms of size, scope and political will, the actually solutions themselves are basic common sense:
- Slow the rate and amount of spending in relation to revenue that is being generated.
- Review, prioritize, reduce or eliminate spending that is causing the rapid acceleration of indebtedness.
- Increase the rate and amount of revenue that is coming into the household or economy.
In the case of the latter, increasing revenues for our national economy this is where the ideological standoff appears to be taking precedence over the overall good of the country. After all the political grandstanding and gamesmanship is done as a nation we must and will come to an acceptable outcome.
In Conclusion
In my view the American people want to see their government work. We want to see our politicians demonstrate the skill and ability to work together to solve the challenges that are before our nation.
We want to see them stop employing entrenched political posturing and relying upon crises management to handle the next national crisis that demands a resolution! One thing can be sure and that is when this one is done there will be another one waiting of some form or fashion.
The time has come for courage and conviction that is squarely focused on returning America back to a place that exemplifies the beauty of the worlds oldest surviving representative democracy.
StayPos!
Political Party
| Vote
| |
|---|---|---|
Republican
| NO
| |
Democratic
| NO
| |
Tea Party
| NO
| |
American People
| YES WE CAN
|
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Comments
AUTHORjunko,
Thanks for your comments and very well said, it's definitely time for common sense to prevail.
If we promote our form of government as the desired choice to the world, we need to start showing it actually functions and works in this country!
The Republican Party with the help of the Tea Party has painted itself in a corner. Now they are standing there looking stupid and unreasonable. The Tea Party and Republicans yesterday honored their pledges to the Conservative cause, with their vote. Now they can honor their pledge of allegiance to the flag and use their common sense.
- AUTHOR
melpor,
Thanks for adding to the discussion :-)
With the size and scope of the challenges on the table and waiting their turn next across the board, jobs, immigration reform, two and a half wars, etc. etc.
The whole game of my party is better than your party only makes it certain that none of the catastrophic problems are really getting our best and most deliberate efforts to solve them.
Also, an outstanding point on the actual context of the enormous SIZE OF A TRILLION, we better start realizing that there is a limit even for Americas great resources and wealth!
- AUTHOR
Hschnieder,
Thanks for your compliment and glad you enjoyed!
It’s sad that our political system of representation seems to have forgotten that with a country of over 300 million people governing is not about one side being totally right or totally in control.
Rather its more about workable solutions that help more people than they hurt and giving the country some forward progress instead of just standing and waiting to get pummeled by the next crisis!
- AUTHOR
Stump Parrish,
Hey thanks for stopping by and highlighting some excellent points!
It is so unfortunate, as you say mentioned with our politician’s preoccupation with election and re-election campaigns.
I feel that limiting the time that members of Congress serve, just as we do with the President is an idea whose time has come!
Eliminating the need to be less interested in making a long-term career position than actually solving difficult problems would force more honesty and pragmatism in our national politics. Do a short stint and then return back to civilian life.
To your point about the GOP’S mission to limit President Obama to one term, it actually shows their lack of character for the job they were elected to do.
After an undeniable choice was made by the American voting public to who their preference was to be President, the least they could do is meet him halfway or at offer concrete substantive alternatives to his ideas. Instead they seem to just focus on the campaign of "NO" to everything the administration is trying to do.
- AUTHOR
Thanks Dexter,
Just finished updating :-)
You are so right, defaulting would be foolish even if someone has to put the country before their own selfish political ambitions.
Thanks for your input! Let's keep a close eye out on what happens.
Hi Stay Pos! You may want to go back and check paragraph four. You left something out.
Otherwise, great information. This debt ceiling mess is a travesty and the politicians need to look beyond partisan lines. Defaulting, in my opinion is not an option. I am hopeful that compromise is coming in a few days. We shall see.
Nice hub and voted up, up and away!
StayPos, I agree the problem is the politicians are putting their party affiliations before the business of actually addressing the problem of attacking this runaway debt problem. As you said, there are two simple common sense solutions to this debt problem. Raise the revenue and cut spending. A course it is a lot more complicated than the typical household budget but the guys need to do something before it is too late and before it becomes more complicated. Finally, the American people have to come to their senses also. Fourteen trillion dollars is a lot of money and our politicians will not erase that amount of money over night. It is going to take some time (at least a decade or more) to do it. Remember a billion dollars is only 0.1% of a trillion dollars.
Great Hub StayPos. Both sides should compromise. The Tea Party wing of the GOP won't and they are blackmailing this country. Regardless of what happens, the debt ceiling must be raised. We should pay our bills and debt obligations no matter what. I would like to see a fair deal struck but we CANNOT default. Economic ruin would ensue no matter what the know nothing Tea Partiers say.
The majority of people in this country see the problems we face as being caused either by the Republicans or Democrats. The problem can be narrowed down to one primary cause, it's the Republicans and the Democrats. Re-election has become the number one priority of our elected officials. Most of this rediculous posturing in DC is simply these crooks setting the stage for the next elections. This problem will be solved at the last minute, as this allows those in DC to keep th level of fear up as long as possible. Mark my words, during the next election cycle you will hear how hard both sides worked to do what was right. There will be lots of finger pointing at the other side indicating that they are the real problem with what's wrong in America. Just look at the public announcement by many on the right, their number one goal is to make sure Obama is a one term president. I was under the impression that their job was to work together to solve the problems this country faces. I'm suprised there is any time left to work on this country's problems considering all the time spoent blaming the other side for them and raising enough money to rebuy their seat in the next election.
As long as the American people accept the line that the other party is the problem, we will continue to have problems. The problem is with the entire bunch in DC and Americans need to blame someone else. Most Americans voted for someone who is part of the problem. Until they can admit they made a mistake, the mistakes will continue to ruin this country to line their own pockets.
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