Politics Disgruntles Me

Most people who know me would say that I come down on the liberal side of most issues. I tend to read, watch, and listen to left-leaning media outlets. Anything I write needs to be read with that in mind. With that said, I can move on to the main point - what has gotten me disgruntled? Obviously the debt ceiling and the general economic approach of our federal government is a huge issue right now, but almost nobody seems interested in solving the problem. The Republicans in the House know that nothing can happen unless it goes through them, so they have a tremendous amount of power here. They also know that the American public will automatically blame any failure on the sitting President, so by blocking any progress and refusing to compromise, they can build public resentment against President Obama as the election year approaches. From my reading of the news, it definitely appears that the Republicans in the House are far more interested in making sure that the US fails so that voters will lean to the right in the next election than they are in actually solving this crisis. At the same time, President Obama knows that he is up against this brick wall and is trying his best to compromise and find some middle ground. What does he get for that? No return compromise from the other side, and his own party angry with him for compromising. As a pretty far left liberal, I would love for the President to be the guy I elected and work to accomplish the things he truly believes in, but I can respect his willingness to try and compromise. Something is better than nothing, as disappointing as it is.

The far right loves to talk about what the venerable Founding Fathers wanted, as if they were somehow able to anticipate every possible situation that might occur in the future. What would the Founding Fathers think of this desire by the controlling party in the House to make sure that the nation fails? Our system of checks and balances was designed with the faith that almost all elected officials would have the good of the country as their number one immediate goal. Now that gaining and maintaining power has become the main goal of a very large number of our elected officials, the system is breaking down. In the next few elections, can we PLEASE elect people who will work for the good of the country and the good of their constituents first? There are plenty of good people in all political parties who will make that their goal. Let's find them and put them in charge!