Why it's all so hard

Usually I get an idea for a topic and if I let it germinate, phrases begin to pop into my head, ways of explaining what I'm thinking. Get enough of those and I hit "New Post". Today I confess I'm still germinating, but I'm giving it a stab anyway.

Watching the Congress wrangle back and forth, you start to wonder what is wrong with us. Why can't we move forward on important issues that matter? Why is everything so hard?

First of all, I will point out that since 1994 we have watched a Congress who was controlled by one party, and since 2000 with a neat little Executive Branch to match. So you didn't see wrangling, compromise, politics. Granted, you saw nothing at all except the poor Shiavo family being torn apart by Frist (oh, if my parents didn't read this, what a name I usually call him!) and Delay (who has enough stupid names already). But specifically you didn't see the kind of back-and-forth, I'll-block-you until-you-say you'll-vote-for my-thing, icky-sausage-making that usually constitutes politics. So I'd say we're just not used to this. Also, those of us in the wilderness (that is, not GOP, whatever you are) found voices and politicians that we liked and who said the right things, but they were in the wilderness with us, not in the sausage factory, to mix a metaphor. Like a candidate with no experience, it's easy to rally behind people until they get down to the real work of politics. As soon as they walk into that sausage factory we call a government, we don't like what we see as much.

But more than that, it's been especially hard to watch the wrangling this time, and this time, the wrangling itself seems harder. I think it's because the politics go as politics go-- you don't have enough votes to pass something, you stick something on it to sweeten it, like a minium wage increase-- but the issues are suddenly so dire.

Let's say for example that all this wrangling and vetoes and everything we've seen regarding the Iraq supplemental was instead about No Child Left Behind. I don't like NCLB, but if the GOP said, wait until September, let's see if our surge (let's say in this case, of teachers or money) has any results, I'd be OK with that. Or let's say he needs to reauthorize the money for NCLB, but the opposition doesn't want to. They pass a bill that gives him the money but says that each school must show a 10% improvement by next spring. He vetoes it. They come back with another version, this time without the timelines, and he passes it, all the while saying, just give me until September, let's see how summer school went, let's see if the kids' test scores are up by the fall.

Well, you know what, I'd be fine with that. Politically speaking, to compromise and say, "OK, we won't shove this down your throat, we'll give you three more months to try to make it work, because we all want it to work, we all want what's best, we can compromise on that," is perfectly reasonable, and probably wise. Let his surge of teachers fail, as it will because that isn't the problem, and then we can move on.

The only problem is, when we took off on Monday to honor our war dead, eight more soldiers were added to that list. I don't know how you calculate averages on such a thing, but at that rate, 720 more American men and women would DIE before we "check in" in September to "see how it's going", and an untold number of Iraqis as well.

There's nothing really wrong with the way politicians are going about this, because like in our NCLB example, compromise and allowing other ideas to be tried is what politics are all about. And for those like Ted Kennedy or Orrin Hatch, politicians who have been around for a long time, this is how they are used to operating. I don't think blame should be assigned for that.

The real reason it's so hard is that we don't have another system set up to deal with the dire realities. This one is fine for arguing about education or immigration, but not so good for war. Congress, particularly the Senate, is meant to be slow and deliberative. Slow and deliberative are killing us, literally, in this context. We need an Express Lane for Congress. Oh, wait, we had one, it was called "one party rule". Things went by fast, but they also suffered from groupthink and Bush-worship, and the decisions made were awful. So maybe slow and deliberative is good, even in war?

Perhaps. But it's hard to look into the eyes of the parents and families of soldiers and say that.

I gotta run, I hope I did this topic some service. Please feel free to comment!

A simple Sunday lesson

I pulled up CNN.com this morning and scanned the headlines at the top of the page. Among other headlines, I saw this:


SOMALI BAND BEATEN FOR PLAYING MUSIC

DAVE CHAPPELLE: THIS HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT


With all due respect to Mr. Chappelle, tell that to the band.


BTW, in case you were wondering, CNN says: "The Islamic militiamen controlling the Somali capital broke up a wedding celebration because a band was playing and women and men were socializing together, witnesses said Saturday, describing the latest crackdown by a group feared to be installing Taliban-style rule in this African nation."

Oh, goodie.

Sorry so quiet

I haven't posted in a while, partly because I've had company visiting and we're getting ready to move to a new house and decorate it, and partly because nothing has pissed me off enough to drive me to the computer.

Also, the last thing I was working on was about the Seas of David, a story that seems to have died.

Is it encumbent on me to be different than the MSM and keep beating a drum long after the parade is over? We do complain that they move on off a story all too soon. All I know is that thinking about it seems like a waste of time, and with an almost-two son, time isn't something I can mess around with much.

Today there are a few items of note. Ken Lay, the luckiest SOB to walk the earth, has died of natural causes before serving a day in jail or seeing his finances decimated like those of his former employees. North Korea set off a few missiles, which seemed to prove only that they don't really have the capability to do much of anything. (Although that was a touch scary because I took a nap with the baby and when I woke up, my roommate said, "North Korea fired off 3 missiles while you were sleeping." For just a second it was like waking up and seeing the WTC on TV.) Fortunately, we didn't have to show that our ability to shoot down the missile would have certainly failed too. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has escalated significantly, that has me more worried than anything. But I haven't had time to really research what the heck is going on so I can't really write about it. Rush Limbaugh got off for having that Viagra, which is fine, only I can't help but think of how many black men are in Florida jails today who have done far less in the way of drugs but didn't get the sweetheart deal RL got. I do feel for him having a drug problem, I don't judge him, but I do have to judge the Florida court system and/or drug laws for its blatantly unfair behavior.

Hope you had a great Independence Day. It's strange, I never really felt patriotism-- not that I wasn't patriotic, but I didn't feel it strongly-- until 9/11. Suddenly I felt a rush of love for my country. I knew it would pass and it did. But the intervening 5 years of the Bush Administration has made me feel more truly patriotic and adoring of my country in a lasting way. I well up with tears when I hear words from the Declaration or the Constitution. My heart swells when I read the speeches from Lincoln and FDR and Kennedy. I was describing this to my roommate and he said, "Because you know what you're losing." A fitting description. My country has been hijacked, its ideals trashed in the name of patriotism and fear. Remember that show Sliders? I feel like this is the alternate universe where everything goes to hell in a handbasket-- my only solace is that somewhere there is a universe where everything is wonderful and I hope they appreciate it. In the meantime, we have to live here, and it's breaking my heart. How do we restore the greatness of America? I'm at a loss, although step one seems to be removing the cabal that scurries in the hall behind the Presidential podium.

Well, that was cheery, wasn't it? Sorry. Why don't you use the comments field of this post to suggest content? I'll take requests, and research it and give you how I see it. In the meantime, have a great week and if you see any good decorating tips, send them our way.