I'd Like to Offer a Thought:
You know, this is supposed to be the election that is about "change". Whatever party you belong to, you are expecting - or at least hoping - for something different than we've gotten the last eight years. Well, something has become very clear to me this last week: We're not going to get it. Doesn't matter if we end up with President Obama or President McCain, we're not going to get change.
Why? Because of highly polarized, partisan politics. No matter what Obama does, the Republicans will scream their heads off, point fingers, try to marshal detrimental facts and dig up dirt. And no matter what McCain does, the Democrats will scream their heads off, point fingers, try to marshal detrimental facts and dig up dirt. And that leaves even the best President basically powerless, because genuine change at the Federal level takes a Congress united behind him. Or her.
And why will that be? Well, it's always hard to answer that old question about "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" but my opinion is that this country is locked into its present downward spiral because partisan, polarized politics are just the way it is nowadays. These politics have Washington tied in knots; very little that benefits We the People is getting done. It's not easy to figure out if politicians behave this way because We the People demand it (or tolerate it), or if We the People have been trained by politicians to accept this new, lower standard of behavior from public officials. What is for certain is that politicians are doing it because it's somehow acceptable nowadays. That wasn't the case in days gone by; politics has always been a dirty game, but today's naked, raw polarization and partisanship are different from yesterday's mud-slinging.
Now, what does this have to do with my opinion that we're not going to get change? Well, we already know that politicians don't change unless there is a clear mandate from voters, and not always then. And this time, in spite of all the lapel buttons, the banners, the Websites and the blogging, there is not a mandate for change. When politicians running in this election put their fingers to the wind, to see which way it's blowing, it's easy to see that their partisanship and polarization are still highly acceptable to voters, because every blog, every Comments section for political news articles - every public forum of every kind - is filled with comments that denounce the other party in terms that would not have been acceptable in any print medium when I was growing up.
Even when profanity is eschewed, the attacks on The Other Guy are always couched in the most personal and vicious terms possible. Almost never does one read a comment from a Dem saying "McCain has a point," and almost never does one read words from a Repub saying, "Well, if Obama gets elected, it isn't the end of the world."
What this tells politicians is that it's okay for them to rip each other to shreds, make the most vicious accusations, dig up all the dirt they possibly can on each other - and do absolutely nothing that benefits you and me. I think it's obvious to everyone here that enormous misdeeds have been committed behind this smokescreen of mud-slinging, and that this country is in serious trouble because voters have bought into the partisan lies of people who wanted to rule this country, not govern it.
Which, if I'm not mistaken, means that we - you, me, all of us - are responsible for the mess this country is in. We have listened to stories of teen pregnancy instead of demanding a commitment on healthcare. We have listened to Limbaugh and Boortz and Hannity and Colmes and Al Franken instead of demanding that Congress clean up both its act and that of the White House. And we've done all that blogging, all that commenting, all that posting.
The problem, as I see it, is We the People. We have all the tools available to demand - and get - real, effective change, and we're squandering them right and left on venom and regurgitations of the latest sensational news stories and punditry we've heard. I myself have done it, most of us have done it. We're sick and tired of what we've been put through since the dawning of the new millennium, and we're hurting so bad we've forgotten both our good manners and our problem-solving skills.
The worst of all this is that even if Obama, the supposed agent of change, gets elected by a landslide, partisanship and polarization will continue, because those things are still okay, no matter who's in the White House. Even with the last eight years as the clearest possible example of how much those things get in the way of doing the people's business, a lot of us are so used to slinging mud we can't remember what it feels like after a bath any more.
It's very convenient - and to a large extent legitimate - to blame the present administration for many of the things that are going on in this country. But this country is us. It's you. It's me. It's three hundred million freaking people. If those three hundred million came to a consensus that honest and competent governance is what we should have, then honest and competent governance is what we would have. But since no one can agree on anything any more, those who would pillage this nation for their own ends are free to do as they please.
As I've said, I've been guilty of some of this too, so when I propose my solution, I'm examining my own part in this, and hopefully not just telling others what I think they should do. What we seem to need in this country is a laying-down of arms and a restoration of civility. Only when our discussions involve our ears and minds and hearts, instead of just our mouths and our typing fingers, will we be able to reach the consensus we need - one so powerful, so incapable of being ignored, that no politician would dare fail to heed it.
We the People need the People's business done. Anything we allow to get between us and an unmistakable call for politicians to stop their polarizing and partisan tactics will not only keep our business from being done, it will fuel their efforts to take America away from us. Every time we stoop to their level, we're telling them that pillaging this nation is okay.
Ben Franklin said it first, and said it best: "We had better hang together, or we will all hang separately."
I'm off my soapbox now.