3.05.2017

CONGRESSIONAL FINGER POINTERS GET THE FINGER


      To us on the outside, one thing has been very clear for a very long time. Washington, DC is cracked by corruption and a willful disregard of its duty to represent justice and the nation’s best interests, as well as the interests of its citizenry.

      The evidence is circumstantial but compelling: George Washington’s namesake city is the wealthiest in the nation. How else, other than by insidious means, could it have become that wealthy when, in essence, its politically involved residents produce nothing of material value, build nothing, invent nothing nor create anything... except division and chaos.
      The cracks are normally glued, fairly well hidden, disguised, painted over by the pretend outrage of one side versus the other. Ask Congress why they don’t get things done. The reply: “We’re working on it,” “It’s in committee now,” “The other side is blocking it,” “We need more funds.” 
      Daily, we see committee investigations which go nowhere. Dramatic accusations and passionate denials fill the news. With each news cycle come “outrages” which serve to bury yesterday’s outrage. The endless war in the Middle East, endless clashing over immigration issues, climate issues, racial issues, rich versus poor, Wall Street versus Main Street, education and healthcare, and on and on... issues which never seem to get resolved. In the past, somehow, the glue held.
      The public rolled its eyes in disgust, the zealots on each side cheered on their champions, and it just went on and on as DC got richer.
     But the internet has made “We’re working on it,” “It’s in committee now,” “The other side is blocking it,” “We need more funds...” untenable. Only people who believe they recently saw Elvis at their local 7-Eleven believe these worn-out excuses. With the rabid partisanship generated by a million political “news” sites, the cracks have become chasms, dividing the nation at every level. Fingers are pointing in every direction except back at themselves. Accusations and counter-accusations. Nothing ever quite gets resolved in the chaos of contradictory “evidence,” hearings, lawyering up, and tit-for-tat politics.
     All this may very well be great for media ratings. But should the cost of media ratings be the dissolution of the trust in and progress of a great nation?

     One simple question:
      Where in hell are the adults in DC? Are there any? In Congress? In the FBI, CIA, NSA, DHS et al.?

     The non-partisan citizens of this great nation – patriots who have no great love for either side, demand, above all, two things. 1: Some sincere attempt at cooperation between Parties. And 2: Justice.
     Cooperation depends on the willingness of non-partisan elected and appointed officials to adopt an attitude of “What’s best for America” versus “What’s best for me and my Party.” We on the outside see none of this happening in DC. What is seen as whistle-blowing by one side is seen as traitorous leaking by the other. It’s a circular firing squad.
     Justice? There is a yearning for yesteryear, when fairness and justice came in on thundering hoof-beats, bringing the likes of the Lone Ranger, or U.S. Marshal Dillon into a bad town to clean it up. But our feeling is that neither one of these justice seekers could carry enough handcuffs to bind all the bad guys in this sorry town.
     Somehow – though I am not sure how at this stage of the cancer which has eaten away all the glue in DC – somehow we on the outside must provide a cure for this sickening mess. It is time to stop the partisan finger-pointing and phony accusations, and the feigned outrage of the guilty. Each side blaming “the other guy” only serves to obfuscate the search for truth. Perhaps it’s time to break some of those fingers.