As the debt ceiling debacle rolls on in the 11th and a half hour the American people look on with great frustration at the political games being played in Washington D.C. Okay we get it there is an Election coming soon. Yet this debt ceiling work if done responsibly would have been completed months ago. Would it have helped if there were more reasonable voices in the mix like Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for example, who all along has laid out the truth and consequences to all who would listen.
Will the utter dysfunction displayed in Washington which becomes increasingly bizzaro to coin a phrase from Senator McCain, is at its worst in the last two years. The introduction of the Tea Party Freshman have become a liability to the Republican Party and the Congress as a whole with inadequate counter-balance to allow the body function in the House and to some extent the Senate. Norman Ornstein was on as Chuck Todd’s guest on MSBC’s Daily Rundown, July 25th,2011 to discuss this diabolical dysfunction. Orstein declaring the 112th Congress the “Worst.Congress.Ever.”
What becomes even more frustrating is the knowledge that this debt ceiling debacle is purely a political concoction. It is difficult to sit by as games are being played which apparently hold no consequence for the players. How are they able to be so irresponsible? How does such a small group in the House be able to hold the nation hostage twice? How many times will they be given the opportunity to do so in the future? This awful twisting of the Democratic process is hard to take.
Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge. — Machiavelli from Chapter 3 of The Prince 1513
Tell me. Is it really the worst thing for the Republican Party or the nation, if these hostile, no compromise Tea Party terrorists don’t get re-elected? In my opinion that’s a risk I’m willing to take for the good of the entire country. It is even more irritating to hear these debt terrorists say “This is what the American people want,” when poll after poll shows they are out of touch with the majority of the American public.
Is it wise to bring Machiavellian principles into politics? I don’t think so. There has to be a time when all sides come together to govern and to make the best decisions possible with reality-based thinking. It is easy to dream up bumper-sticker slogans. Yet in practice, with numbers that represent great impacts on American’s lives, it is not a bandaid or bumper-sticker fix. It takes more sophisticated and complex policy crafting. It takes statesmen and stateswomen, not baser politicians to get the job done.
What has happened to the days of the statesman of Kennedy and Byrd? I miss them. We need them now.
Quote from: http://www.philosophyparadise.com/quotes/machiavelli.htm
indy mod p.o.v. 