It's not a good time for anybody wishing to serve as a politician. How could it be? Our political class is more adept at coming up with excuses to why they can't solve problems than solving the problems themselves. Certainly both sides are to blame but it is my opinion that Republicans are by far more responsible. They are more beholden to the rich and powerful and those with pledges than the American people. They refuse to recognize that the key to compromise is admitting you can't get everything you want. You must bite the bullet and be willing to accept something you don't necessary want to accept, but you know it is vital to getting something in return. In the end, you simply will not get everything you want, but the agreement is sufficient enough to allow a deal. Our current Congress is simply unable to this, or just about anything for that matter. The obvious question is why. Well, I think there are few reasons. Firstly, you look at how politicians used to be years ago and it's strange how different it is. They used to have drinks and get togethers when they weren't voting in opposite directions. Does this really happen anymore? I sincerely doubt it. People are so entrenched in whatever they say that day that moving off of it is not only hard, but impossible. I have to give Democrats some credit for being willing to put programs like Medicare and Social Security on the table. They would probably prefer not to, but they know part of the problems we face regard spending. (There is a way to address Social Security without hurting seniors or those that will receive SS, but that's for another thread.) It is the overwhelming stench of incompetence that is part of the reason that optimism is dying. The other, more malevolent, reason that political optimism is about to go extinct is political corruption. It can't be understated. This is a problem that undoubtedly plagues both parties. If you don't believe me, simply follow the money. Anybody that genuinely believes in Republican or Democratic causes cannot ignore the rampant corruption, hypocrisy, and deals that go on within our current political climate. In the most recent Newsweek article, it is noted that prominent members of both parties engaged in insider trading, something that is highly illegal for anybody who doesn't work in the Capitol as a Congressperson. Notably, both Republicans and Democrats bought and sold health care stocks during the health care debate. The very people who were discussing and voting on how the nature of the health care industy would be, how it would all work, were trading based on information not easily available to me and you. I could list a lot more examples of corruption, but you get the point. It is so all encompassing, so pervasive, so cancerous, that it may impossible to fully reverse it. It plagues both major parties, from the lowly Junior Senator to the current Speaker of the House. It plagues the White House. The very people responsible for the recession are now in the White House devising policy. In that same Newsweek article that exposed the likes of Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner, it was fully detailed how the Obama administration had given grants to his donors--essentially politcal favors for giving to his campaign. Politicians don't serve, they use their office, with the assistance of corporations and unethical laws, to create for themselves a new class. Not a middle class or a working class or even an upper class. They have the power corporations lack (and they are powerful). They create laws to benefit themselves and those that support them. This cannot go on, not if our republican ideals are to be taken seriously, and not taken as the cruel joke that they currently are.
