Every parent endeavors to instill in his or her child the tools
they need to become moral, clear-thinking adults. To accomplish
that goal, parents teach their children concepts like sharing and
compromise. While the latter may seem exceedingly difficult at
first to grasp, it is actually quite simple: You give a bit, you
get a bit.
Every pre-teen knows how to
effectively compromise
with a friend, which is what makes the inability of our elected
officials to come to some sort of agreement on a debt ceiling and a
new budget all the more infuriating. Reading through the endless
reports of the ongoing discussions in Washington, it's very easy to
forget that we're not dealing with babies here, but rather grown,
educated men and women.
Haven't we all had enough of this? If our publicly-elected
officials fail to extend the debt ceiling by the August 2 deadline,
it could have far-reaching and lasting consequences on the U.S.,
including the loss of its sterling credit rating.
Someone needs to zap these politicians back to reality. It's time
to make tough choices and work together. Speaker of the House John
Boehner is just as guilty as President Obama of using old political
tricks to obfuscate voters. Ultimately, it comes down to this: Both
Republicans and Democrats are right - and wrong.
Yes, Republicans are correct in their assertion that the government
has over-extended itself over the past decade, spending money it
didn't have in areas that were exceedingly unnecessary. On the
other hand, their calls to take a chainsaw to the budget,
eliminating a number of critically important social programs is
uncalled for and a cheap political trick.
On the other hand, the Democrats are right to defend against such
attacks on welfare and Social Security, but they must also concede
that cuts must be made and yes, some will hurt. Some people will
lose their jobs and others will have their government funding cut.
Still, the Republicans'
contention
that all cuts can be made to the budget and that
taxes
will not have to be raised even the slightest bit is illogical,
unfair and foolish. If we're going to turn this economy and country
around, we need leaders who at the very least are able to
demonstrate the ability to compromise some ground for a common
good.
Right now, they're setting a pretty good example for school
children - only it's a model of how not to behave.