As much as it hurts to come back to another two months of school after an all-too-short break, it is nearly as painful to turn on the news and listen to the bickering coming from Washington, D.C.
The debate on the health care reform bill has been escalating in the past few weeks — drowning out reason and allowing legislators to put politics ahead of people.
The rhetoric coming from Capitol Hill has overwhelmingly been tailored for sound bites and political posturing — not bipartisanship or collaborative solutions.
The health care debacle is seen as a way for President Barack Obama to make good on his campaign promises, for Democrats to show they are in control and Republicans to promote their opposition stance — anything but as a solution for everyday Americans burdened by a broken system.
Towing party lines and being reelected has been more important to legislators than making a solid, effectual, bipartisan bill. Elected officials would rather act like angry schoolchildren than take the time to share actual ideas.
Health care reform has infiltrated the news media as Congress members and senators are gearing up for midterm elections and capitalizing on the number of times they can get their names in the news media. There is no such thing as bad publicity, right?
Political posturing is nothing new, but that doesn’t mean it’s something good. Why do we continue to support politicians that are more concerned with being reelected than getting things done, and done well? Or are we just so used to “politics as usual” that we’ve become apathetic?
On the one hand, it’s no wonder that we’d rather tune out the noise than try and muddle through rhetoric to figure out which candidates represent our stance. But on the other, if we don’t care enough to see through the overplayed talking points and advertisements, what happens?
In the 2006 midterm elections voter turnout was a whopping 40.4 percent, according to the United States Elections Project from George Mason University. Less than half the country turned out to vote. Twenty percent more voted in 2008, which may sound better but is still much too low. With numbers like these, it’s nearly ludicrous to assume that either side of the aisle can claim to know what the “majority” of Americans want. Much of the time, a majority doesn’t even vote.
But when we do, are our decisions based on our research or based on whose quotes sound the best — or rather, whose don’t?
The nasty nature of politics is to play the rhetoric game with the hopes of catapulting players into bids for the presidency — or at the least a prolonged career “serving” the public. Unfortunately the trickle-down to the people tends to be less important to them than the power of being in office.
Wouldn’t it be wiser to stop acting like politics is Republican vs. Democrat, blue state vs. red state, and work to make life better for the whole country? Why is infighting more important than finding solutions? When will we take the time to listen to ideas instead of condemn them based on whose mouth they are coming from?
The symptoms are ignorance, apathy and the inability to listen. Where is the prescription to cure it?
