Art of the Union

The United States has been taken to the brink. There has been a certain type of audacity on display in our nations capital that has been astonishing. Our elected officials have volunteered to play Russian Roulette with our country’s financial security, handling the debt ceiling negotiations with the same finesse as a thief whose safe cracking tool of choice is dynamite. Instead of showing that they can work across the aisle for the benefit of our nation, our elected officials have decided that it would be the perfect time to freshen up on their double talk and political posturing abilities. Unfortunately, it’s hard for a government to maintain posture when it’s been crippled with Scoliosis.

This should not come as a surprise though, we quit electing officials to govern years ago. Now we’d much rather elect out of work party clowns to insult each other and commit adultery, but only a few times. It will build the nations character, put hair on its chest. It’s as if our country is in one giant sketch comedy routine but we laugh with tears and unemployment. It’s hard for a voter to be reassured when nothing is at it seems, and what actually is as it seems is so terrible that we wish it was different.

With each side putting more effort into passing blame than passing any sort of legislation, it’s easy to miss that the situation was the result of  both red and blue parties. As much as Mitch McConnell and the conservatives have tried to blame this crisis on the arguably liberal President Obama and his evil horde of tax and spend mongols, leaving trillion dollar rainbows and welfare babies in their midsts, this problem didn’t just occur out of nowhere. Yes, in typical Washington fashion the debt has flew through the roof under the Obama Administration. What Republicans would like to ignore though is the hole in the roof right next to it where the Bush debt took off. Every incoming president inherits the last presidents debt, that’s just the way it is. President Obama did not take his oath of office only to swiftly make his way to the Treasury Department’s steps and dump a fresh bag of manure all over them. There was already a pile drying in the sun. 

According to politifact.com, when President Obama took office from Republican George W. Bush, the federal debt was $10.627 trillion dollars. On May 27, 2011 the federal debt stood at $14.345 trillion. Yes, that is over $3 trillion in Obama’s yet to be completed first term and that is a terrible amount of money, but an accumulated $4.97 trillion under Bush is no ray of sunshine either. It becomes even less forgivable when taken into consideration the fairly positive economic situation Bush inherited from Clinton. With this taken into consideration, I find it very hard to swallow when Republicans try to paint themselves as fiscal conservatives and Democrats as wild spenders when generally, it’s pretty even grounds. I can only listen in awe the same way I would if I witnessed a man on trial for murder plead not guilty because other killers have stabbed their victims more times than he did.

I don’t want to make being incompetent out to be a Republican problem though as the Democrats are just as much to blame. Why should Republicans not test their luck by bringing issues of such large caliber to the edge? History has shown that if they scream enough, Democrats will compromise. Democrats will compromise in the special way that only they know how to do, by abandoning all progress gained and handing Republicans everything they’d wished for. To Dems, it would be easier to give up and try to accuse the other side of not compromising during the election. They’ll even send their most promising teammates upstream at the first sign of trouble if it means avoiding pressure. Elliot Spitzer reveals himself as a bedroom bandit and Alan Grayson says loud words. These are just some examples of Democrats swiftly hoisted from their seat for being troublemakers. Meanwhile across the way, Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani founded the countries first adultery think-tank and were harshly reprimanded with the chance to run for president. So when Republicans think they can beat Democrats into submission, more times than not they will be correct.

At the beginning of the debt ceiling talks, Congressional Democrats had a great yearning to increase tax revenues on the nations top earners and end loopholes that would allow companies to operate tax free. They showed strength and conviction. Now let’s fast forward to the end of the debt ceiling catastrophe and look over Harry Reid’s rejected plan, the Democrats proposal. I wonder how that tax revenue scenario held up? Ah, here it is. Reid’s plan contains “no tax increases on the wealthy or on businesses.” Well, who saw that coming? In the end when a deal was struck, tax-hikes were no where to be found in the plan seemingly based on the one Republican John Boehner introduced. You see, Democrats are like your easily scared cousin who has an allergy for everything. They don’t like conflict, it makes them nervous. Oh, and here’s a note from their mother, it explains how they are allergic to sweat. By caving to Republican threats of derailing our economy for nothing more than vendetta’s against liberals, Democrats just drive the point home that such unethical politics can win in the future.

It boggles the mind how those elected to serve can focus so much on being re-elected and not actually put in any of the effort or work to assure that it will happen. What we used to place our trust in to fight for our rights and protect us as citizens is now concerned more with being as outspoken and wrong as they can be, undoubtedly forging a career as a large-jowled talking point producer on a political talk show. As much as our nation is enthralled by sensationalism and the surreal, we need to re-focus our priorities. Instead of electing celebrities with the pretty faces or maniacs with the loudest voices, we need to place our well being back into the hands of the honest and capable that we snatched it from.