Our abusive relationship
I used to write a lot of letters to the editor about things of a political nature. Even my earlier blogs started out with a lot of political overtones. Then over the last few months I just got bored with politics. Bored and fed up. I know that politics affect all of us and that as citizens of a democratic society it is our responsibility to keep our eyes on the ball, but sometimes you just need to step back and take a breath. I've been asking myself why I am sick of politics and government. The answer I come up with is that after a while you get tired of dealing with same old crap, year after year.
Most of us are just plain working folk. We work, we pay taxes, we vote, we argue and disagree over who should be running things, and we trust that those in charge will, to some degree, take their responsibilities serious and remember who they are working for. But here's what always seems to happen....nothing! OK, that may not be completely true. Things do change, they get worse. Nothing ever seems to change for the better. How many years do we listen to promises of campaign finance reform and nothing happens, IRS reform and nothing happens, immigration reform and nothing happens, health care reform and nothing happens, the list goes on and on.
I remember when Reagan "simplified" the IRS tax code. Paper work for filing taxes tripled and tax forms became more complicated than ever. I also remember a speech by Reagan saying that it was time for the world to reduce it's nuclear arsenal and biological warfare poisons. "Therefore", he announced, "I am asking congress for more money to increase the size of our nuclear arms and biological arsenols in order to motivate the rest of the world to shrink theirs"....or some words to that affect. I'm not trying to get on Reagan here, I'm just saying that this is typical of what politicians do. They get nothing done or they make things worse. How long can our economy survive doubling the national debt every four years?
We the people are living in an abusive relationship with our elected leaders. The leaders are the abusive husbands who do what they want and we the people are the wives who get bitch slapped for questioning them. The way that abusive men keep their marriages intact is that they keep promising they will change. They beat their wives and then they buy them flowers and apologize with false promises and worthless tears. But change is always too little too late. And we want to believe them so bad, we keep agreeing to their false promises. Health care, fix the IRS, campaign finance reform, doing something substantial in Iraq, immigration reform, better education, fixing the infrastructure, fix social security, reducing the national debt....it's all coming, soon, we promise. Keep that carrot extended on a stick. As long as we can see it, we can almost taste it.
Here is why these things never happen. To fix any of these things just mentioned, we have to think and plan ahead. We have to make painful decisions now that may not show any results for years to come. That means that politicians will be gone from office before the fruits of their labor will manifest. For most politicians, this would be political suicide. And that's where we the people have to take responsibility. We want instant gratification. We the voter make it difficult for our elected leaders to do the right thing. And why should we expect more from our leaders than we are willing to do for ourselves? The average American is $16,000 in credit card debt. We do not plan well for our own future and yet we expect it from our leaders.
Every now and then a true leader comes along with a vision and they are quickly labeled a farce by the empowered element of their own party as well as the spin masters from their opposing party. Jerry Brown, Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinech, even Pat Buchanon (at least he had a vision bigger than his own political aspirations) to name a few, are men that have held a broader vision for our future that went beyond feel good politics.
So when do we end this abusive relationship? When do we say enough is enough, the time is NOW to make the changes you've been promising or pack your bags and hit the road Jack. Until I see some real results from our leaders, I will continue to suffer my periodical burnouts from politics. I will become temporarily apathetic until some new issue gets my goat and I feel a need to speak out. Sure, I will always vote, I will keep up with what's going on in the world, I will even send money now and then to my pet causes. But wouldn't it be something if we could be energized by real leaders, people who would not only start making the tough decisions for our future as a country but also motivate us to want to make better decisions for our own lives, for our own futures? Wouldn't it be nice to have leaders who could motivate us to want to be involved in the process of democracy instead of falling into that ho-hum state of political apathy because we feel betrayed and robbed? Wouldn't it be nice if the abusive husband became a compassionate, responsible, and honest working man who wanted the best for his family and was willing to do whatever it took to make it work?