DYSFUNCTIONAL WASHINGTON

As Americans across the country wait and watch the political shenanigans occurring in Washington in conjunction with the debt ceiling debate, there is a genuine fear that our government will actually default for the first time in our country’s history. Viewing the Sunday morning talk programs the word of the day was COMPROMISE and it is being tossed around by the pundits as if this is something new. Those talking heads are wrong, just as our government officials are, because that is only part of the problem.

First, just consider if we had today’s group of politicians in Philadelphia back in the days of the Continental Congress. It is your Commander’s opinion that there never would have been anything like the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution or the Bill of Rights, because this group can not agree to anything. Fortunately, 235 years ago the goal of independence held priority over party and compromise was the only way to mutually accomplish their common goal.

The Founding Fathers were men of honor and purpose caused by a British government that subjugated them to conditions that could only be reversed by independence. Those leaders were generally not wealthy individuals and they were not professional politicians ruled by greed.

The major difference between the politicians of today versus then is simply one factor and that is MONEY. History has proven that our Founding Fathers suffered greatly as a result of their work on the documents that shaped the future of our country. Many of them gave their lives, their fortunes, their homes and their family’s very lives as a result of their work. Can you imagine our current politicians doing the same? It is highly unlikely.

MONEY rules Washington today. There is not one politician in Washington that has not been completely compromised before they even get to our nation’s Capitol, because they have had to raise so much money to campaign and get elected that they have sold out to special interests and are compromised before they even take the Oath of Office. That was not the case with the Founding Fathers.

Our founders had strong differences of opinion, but they had a common purpose and that was INDEPENDENCE. Our current politicians are constantly raising money for their next election and they have sold-out to special interests and campaign donors, and thus cannot and do not work for the common good of our country.

President Obama and both Houses of Congress are not worried about the debt ceiling, because they are more concerned about getting re-elected and continuing to raise more money. Their complicity escalates with each campaign contribution they receive. They even exchange campaign money between themselves to buy voting favors within the House and Senate.

America is at a tipping point; we are about to have more voters collecting welfare and entitlement money than those contributing taxes to the function of government. Only we the taxpayers and voters can change what is happening in Washington and I suggest it will require cleaning house over a period of several election cycles.

Tragically, our current elected officials are not worried about you and me, but only their own re-election. We the voters who put them in positions of power are to blame for our problems, and a ceiling on our debt appears to not be a priority to our elected officials. If default comes I guarantee the politicians will get paid first, and the voters will be at the end of the line.

The solution to the debt crisis is very easy, cut excessive spending and stop buying votes from the entitlement crowd…poor and minority voters. It is appropriate to remember the words of Plato, “The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

COMMANDER GRANGER