To the Editor:
I must question the judiciousness of anyone who takes, at face value, anything said by a national politician (or the government as a whole).
Pointing out a politician’s lies, as if one party has a monopoly on deceit, is little more than the pot calling the kettle black. I base this stance on my political observations ever since the Pentagon Papers came to light. In the ensuing 50 plus years, my hope and belief in the honesty of elected officials has been proven amiss so many times that I now accept the behavior as simply business as usual.
If you genuinely believe that the POTUS or any of our U.S. Senators or Representatives are truly interested in solving the nation’s problems (and they have plenty to choose from), you’re either extremely naive or haven’t been paying attention. Their interest in solving our problems takes a back seat to their earnest desire to raise money for their reelection campaigns.
Without those dollars, they stand little chance of accomplishing their number two objective: securing a job for life. Solving the nation’s problems comes in a distant third.
At best!
Once a politician gets a taste of the power and perks that comes with national office (like insider information on a stock whose value is about to skyrocket), they’re more than willing to join their brethren in the swamp and do whatever it takes to maintain that position. This stay-put positioning often amounts to little more than promoting the belief that, “My party is always right, the other party is always wrong.”
Unfortunately for the citizenry, this fear of losing power means no one is willing to act as the adult in the room, step on the toes of fellow party members, give an inch, compromise, and make progress on solving the problem. To do so is not seen as patriotic, serving your constituents, or even logical, but as a sign of weakness.
The recent brouhaha over the nation defaulting on its debt and the inevitable economic hardships such a happening would entail is a picture-book example.
I’ve given up on this power-at-all-costs divisiveness ever righting itself. Each individual is so deeply dug-in that reversing course and doing what they know is best for their constituency would somehow be seen by party members in a negative, even traitorous, light.
How dare an esteemed colleague jeopardize a cushy position for something as trivial as promoting the interests of those who elected them. I’ve also give up on showing much concern for those younger than I who will have to conduct life within an ever-deepening quagmire for decades to come.
That thought can’t possibly be gratifying.
Now on the bright side, I do take delight in watching our national saga play out on network and cable news. The liberal media hasn’t been this entertaining since Hillary Clinton learned, much to her chagrin, that the report of her husband having sex with a 22-year-old intern was not part of some Republican conspiracy (as she claimed on The Today Show), but was actually the arrogant and deviant behavior of her cheating and lying-through-his-teeth husband.
Yes, I’m happy to report, schadenfreude is alive and well.
Patrick J. Leslie, Owensville
