I’d like to mix that with something I heard last week from former VP Mike Pence at the Republican debate about leadership not including compromise. Yes, I worked for the government and with/against governmental policies for ten years, writing and justifying new laws so have some experience in that realm, combined with common sense learned over a lifetime.
Politically, most American voters are in the middle, I’d guess about fifty percent around the center could agree on nearly anything. Our government works as a three-legged stool, remove one and the others will not stand. Same with going against most of the people, most of the time. It doesn’t work. Please the liberals all the time or the conservatives, doesn’t matter, the middle gets sick of it and puts things back on an even keel.
Leadership in a democracy always includes compromise. Try being a tourist not speaking a foreign language while trying to buy something, let’s say an Italian leather bag at an outdoor market that should cost about $50. The seller wants $75, I want to pay $25, so we find a fair price together and I go home with my beautiful leather bag. If I don’t compromise, I either pay the $75 or end up with nothing. That’s how things work inside the Beltway. I need a new bridge in my district, you need a Pentagon project to keep building widgets in yours. Deal.
There are two things going on right now. First is a trend away from democracy, which I believe has to be stopped at all costs. Second is “cheating” to get what one wants in the immediate future without considering long-term consequences. We don’t write laws for one person, we can’t do that. Firing a state or federal prosecutor or eliminating their office budget/individual salary is ridiculous and an offense to the rule of law, which has ways of weeding out particularly bad prosecutors and unethical lawyers. But today, it seems that political power for power’s sake is the only thing that matters, damn the Constitution, full speed ahead.
What legislators don’t understand is that the minute the opposition party takes office, and the pendulum is always swinging, they’ve set a precedent or written a law that enables the entire side to be wiped out for mere political reasons.
When a democrat won the governorship in my state, a nearly-bulletproof gerrymandered republican majority voted weeks before he took office to remove a number of gubernatorial powers and give them to the legislature. Why? Because they didn’t like that they lost. When that goes around, it’ll come around, and one can only hope it will be righted by putting those powers back where they belong and not by going overboard because, as we tell our kids, two wrongs don’t make a right.
The majority in our Supreme Court changed earlier this year and the new Justice was just sworn in. The first thing the Legislature plans to do is impeach her, before she even rules on a case. That’s bad sportsmanship taken to a ludicrous level.
When I see politicians acting stupid, and many do, their actions can often be equated to those of errant children. Our moral upbringing shows that we know this and teach our children not to lie or cheat or treat people badly, but some adults choose to do it anyway.
Do you want to ban Muslims from entering this country? Substitute the word Muslim for your religion or ethnicity and see if you still feel the same way. There are comparatively few transgender people in our society, even fewer elite transgender athletes, so how can I come to any harm if we just all go on living our lives? If you don’t want your kids to read certain literature, fine. But you’ve no right to tell me what my kid can read or take To Kill A Mockingbird away from the school or town library or even bookstores.
Our Constitution planned for give and take, push and pull, and crafted a document that helps us negotiate through difficulties if we all stay in our lanes (legislators make laws, administrations administer said laws, courts adjudge). We need to respect it, the rule of law, and the role of public service in a democracy. A life of public service, military or civilian, is a noble cause, not something to be sneered at. Public servants have families, too, and do their apolitical and specialized jobs very well. Who else is going test the new wonder drug to cure cancer? Or accurately predict severe weather to minimize deaths? Or when I turn 65, put my social security check in the mail on time?
The bottom line is to respect each other and try to see the reason in another’s opinion before automatically coming to the conclusion that the person who disagrees with you on policy is an idiot, evil or a lifelong enemy. Your kids are still on the same soccer team, after all, and they’re expected to respect each other, and their parents. Give peace a chance! Dee
Cooking with Dee 