Sunday, November 16, 2008

Bipartisanship: Fact or Myth?

This whole election was filled with politicians on both sides of the isle (except Ron Paul I think and I'm sure a few others) talking about the importance of bipartisanship to work through the issues.

These statements came from a bunch of pompous, power hungry politicians on an ego trip. What I think they really mean by bipartisanship is, "it's great as long as your side compromises their morals, values, and beliefs to defect to my side, regardless of thoughtful logic, or what your constituency wants." Some politicians are willing to defect, while some are willing to discuss compromise and are somehow fooled into selling the morals, values, and beliefs of their constituency for "the better good of America." But in reality they are doing it to somehow increase their power or buy undecided votes depending on the race, since they can bank on the majority of their base not paying attention to their actions, thus voting for the name or party they know come election time.

True bipartisanship would be finding the common ground on an issue such as improved education in this country (or am I naive to think that everyone wants that?), and then discussing the various possibilities and researching how those various options work around the world and perhaps in our own country. It would require everyone involved to be open minded to the various solutions and results of research and remain free of non-objective influence by special-interest groups, lobbyists, or their best friend for that matter.

Something tells me this is an impossible ideal since the objective of our government and those running it has become to gain power, influence, and size at all cost by convincing the people that they can't take care of certain things on their own without the help of the government.

Or in reality is the system of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" actually bipartisanship at it's greatest? You know where you talk a bunch of people on the other side to vote your way for a particular issue and promise to pay them back when they need a favor later.

I don't think so, but perhaps you do, and the beauty of living in a free country is the right to have your own opinion and be able to express it. We have the power when it comes to electing our various politicians. Research their beliefs and actions. Make sure you don't give up our valuable liberties in exchange for the government taking care of all your needs. Be careful what you wish for.

In conclusion, as things are, I vote Myth. What's your opinion?

2 comments:

Jan said...

Voters want term limits for Congress (except for my guy. He's great and should stay there and get goodies for us). And as long as people think that way Congress will never change.

Amber Sunshine said...

I agree and it's a shame. I also hate when you find out your guy went there believing in term limits until their terms were up, but they never bothered to push for them.

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