Partisan-patory Government

I was channel surfing yesterday and landed on one of the cable news stations (I can’t remember which one), which was playing rapid-fire sound bites from politicians discussing the recent U.S credit downgrade.  First a Democrat blamed the Republicans, then a Republican blamed the Democrats, then another Democrat blamed the Republicans, and so on.  Some liberals have actually referred to it as the “Tea Party Downgrade.”

Then, when I did my morning scan of Yahoo! News today, I noted that two of the top five Most Popular headlines were "White House adviser blames tea party for downgrade" and "GOP candidates slam Obama in reaction to S&P downgrade."

To all that I say, listen you idiots … you’re all complicit.  Democrats and Republicans.  Conservatives and liberals.  Our current financial mess is the fault of ALL OF YOU.  It doesn’t matter who’s in the White House, or who controls Congress, or which political movement is carrying the momentum today.  You couldn’t cooperate, so you ended up making a panicked short-term deal at the 11th hour that is pretty lousy for everybody.

Democrats: We cannot remain solvent without making difficult decisions about the social safety net.  I don’t want to hear another liberal politician state “we won’t reduce the debt on the backs of children and seniors.”  It sounds noble, but it’s unrealistic because our current systems are so archaic.  Take Social Security as an example.  Seniors ain’t what they were in the ‘40s when life expectancy was 63 (Isn’t 60 the new 40, or something like that?).  We simply haven’t adjusted for the times.  So stop poo-pooing Republican proposals.  From what I’ve seen, many of the changes are long-term and wouldn’t impact the people with a current stake anyway.

Republicans: Tax increases won’t destroy the economy.  The economy has been faltering for the better part of 10 years, a period of relatively low taxation.  Our country’s economic golden age came in the ‘50s, when taxes were generally higher.  Getting back to that isn’t rocket science: close loopholes and make income taxes more equitable.  And if you really want to use low taxation as an economic engine, find a way to offer big breaks to companies that keep jobs in the U.S.  If CEOs complain that taxes are hurting profits, tell them a simple solution would be offering better products that more people will actually want to buy.

Of course, that’s oversimplified.  Effectively governing hundreds of millions of people is complicated business.  Nevertheless, I don’t understand why every issue facing our nation becomes another round of rigid disagreement and, ultimately, finger-pointing.

I have friends across the political spectrum.  Sometimes we disagree on stuff.  Sometimes we debate.  However, I can’t recall a single time where one of those debates didn’t result in each of us coming around – at least a little bit – to see the other’s point of view.

It’s called compromise, and last time I checked, it’s not an evil thing.  Consider trying it sometime.  You might be pleasantly surprised by the results.