State of the Union and Broken Foot

A friend recently posted a question of Facebook asking friends whether they were like to sit on the right or the left as the watched the SOTU. Most replied they just weren’t going to watch it but one said it would read it thus avoiding listening to applause. Unfortunately that is likely a majority opinion. As committed citizens we just don’t want to be informed but will others digest it for us and give it their spin.

My wife Doreen just recently broke her foot. It seems an apt comparison to Obama’s presidency. Since and even before he took office, numerous members of the GOP vowed to not work with him on anything becoming the party of “no”. Remember minority leader Mitch McConnell in January 2009 saying, “If he was for it, we had to be against it." (It might have been one of his minions, not matter.) Now note that most of the GOP complaints about Obama’s SOTU speech was that he wasn’t acting in a bipartisan way. It’s rather like Attila the Hun complaining the other side just won’t play fair with him.

I have often written about my belief in a strong two party system for a strong democracy. We need different points of view well stated to find common ground to work for the common good. And, it used to be that way. But for the last 30 years we have become more and more intolerant of beliefs other than our own and refuse to work together. In essence the U.S.A. and its elected officials have a broken leg and we just limp along.

Frankly I’m amazed what Obama has been able to do in such a political climate, such as, pass the history making Affordable Health Care Act. But it has been an exception to the rule and was largely accomplished without political compromise.

All of this has created a climate of distrust in the country. Sadly we just don’t trust any political leaders even though are those who honestly work for the good of the people; but they don’t get much press. So, we just say, “You can’t talk about religion or politics” and go blindly on our way. The opposite needs to be true, but it has to be a honest dialogue with people from opposing sides.

Jon Steward probably got it best here  

You add to this mix the dominance of big money taking over the political process making the broken leg worse.

So, we complain and don’t trust politicians, but that does us not good and solves no problems.

We need to ask important questions: How do we create trust in our society? If you were president, what would you do?

The president facing a broken leg congress has made it clear it will go on with programs in spite of a crippled congress. I wish him luck. I pray that members of the GOP will at least get a walking cast and work with him.

But still the big question, what would you do if you were president or a member of congress and what will you do as a citizen of this country?