Thoroughly Disgusted With Our Political Parties

I've taken to saying, "The Republicans ruin the government and the Democrats can't govern." They both spend their time demonizing and pointing fingers, tactical maneuvering and planning to stay in power, not working together to govern the country. They talk a lot about bipartisan values and then do their best to destroy and possibility of it. Power is more important than our future to them.

I applaud President Obama's State of the Union Address, his efforts to get beyond the uncompromising and bullheaded and insulting dialogue in Washington but I fear his efforts will go nowhere.

There are more and more independent voters like me, disgusted with the lot of them.

Our country and its citizens don't seem to realize that we are heading for bankruptcy, and loss of power in the world, and a lessened standard of living for most of us if we don't get it together and stop the failures to govern. We will be the losers, all of us that aren't rich. Most Americans still seem to think we can throw our weight around the the world, have unlimited resources and military power and troops, but we don't have that, either. People don't want to see the truth and do something about it.

Can you imagine a parent so bullheaded that if his family were starving and he needed a whole loaf of bread would refuse half a loaf because it didn't fit his full specifications?

Or perhaps the family across the street might offer a whole loaf, but the starving family is so bullheaded they refuse it because it isn't the "right" kind of bread.

That seems to be the way our politicians are operating. If they don't get their way (or a big bribe in the legislation), they won't play, won't support anything, and would rather defeat everything.

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
~Abba Eban

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
~Abraham Lincoln

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, 1 bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party. - John C. Calhoun, Speech, Feb. 13, 1835.

Why solve any of our problems?

I am so disgusted with both the politicians and much of our population. It seems no one is willing to compromise to find solutions. No one is willing to give an inch to make better things possible. No one wants to govern for the benefit of all, just to advance an agenda. We are like lung cancer patients that insist on continuing to smoke. We are not ostriches with our heads in the sand. . . we SEE the problems, but we, as a society, are just so determined not to solve them. It seems to be far more important to follow a party line, not to give up any of our "living standard" or our wasteful ways, than to face reality. No matter what anyone proposes, the opposition not only begins to campaign against it, they imput evil motives to the other side.

Take the health care crisis and the need for universal medical insurance. Those against it insist that it will be a disaster, that we will have "rationed" medical care, that doctors will be "government employees," that you will have to wait in line for care until you die. First of all, I completely doubt the likelihood of these scary stories coming true. If so, why aren't all the people over 65 clamoring for the repeal of Medicare? If a government administered plan is so bad, why are all of us older folks so glad we have it? Why are so many physicians willing to accept it? Why are so many private companies happy to sell supplement policies? Ever meet a senior who is refusing to use his Medicare benefits?

Try telling all those that have NO health insurance that a government plan would be so terrible for them. They have NO insurance now and can't afford to get care. If they go to an emergency room, they are charged premium rates because there is no insurance to negotiate a rate for them. If they can't pay, they are stuck with terrible debts. They do die standing in line for care. And there are more of them every day.

Try telling the families that have a government health care insurance for their children that it's a bad thing, that they should refuse it. it may not be perfect, and nothing created by man ever is, but it's far better than nothing.

Then let's look at our energy problems, our infrastructure problems, our financial industry problems, our trade problems. The same thinking applies. We can't solve any of them because we can't agree. As a society we are more interested in arguing our points that figuring out what works.

We will go to our doom arguing about our problems when we could have fixed them, improved them, or at least tried.