Major Party Leaders Fail the American People in Sequester Slap Fight and Obama Sure Isn’t Helping Matters…
By Kristen Luciani | The Save Jersey Blog
The caustic interactions among Capitol Hill Republicans and Democrats are becoming more and more characteristic of a dysfunctional marriage, Save Jerseyans. Even though today it seems to be so easy to walk away from a strained relationship, to just shut down, take your losses and part ways; this is not the reality for our elected officials.
And boy oh boy, do they need counseling!
One of the greatest contributors to a failed relationship is a lack of compromise. What happens to a unit when both parties shut down and stop trying? The system stops working. Communications break down. Both parties dig their heels in, stop listening to one another, and fail to work together as a team. The relationship quickly deteriorates because the key components of a fully functional relationship are entirely missing. This is where we are in Washington, and where we are all across the country, among states and districts and municipalities.
With regard to the sequester, we have distinct units at play against one another. There is a general unwillingness to compromise, to understand each side of the coin, and to come to consensus about how to proceed with the best option for the country.
Obama is definitely the scorned third party, fueling the fire between the Democrats and the Republicans. He is working against the harmony that needs to be achieved to repair the political strife along the Beltway. Furthermore, he doesn’t want to see the relationship repaired because he doesn’t want to be left out in the cold. No, he wants to prevent that scenario at all costs because it results in a loss of power for him.
Then, it becomes all about the spin to the people, Save Jerseyans. One side is always going to be perceived as the victim, and that is pretty much always the Democrats. The news media picks up on this, and the primary message delivered to the masses is that Republicans are not cooperating, they are not willing to compromise, and they are against the interests of the struggling middle class.
Guess what happens next? “Perception becomes reality.” That is a very wise quote from my favorite “shark,” Barbara Corcoran. If you hear something over and over and over, and you make no efforts to investigate the validity of the statements being made, then yes, it will become an absolute truth in the minds of the American people.
So make no mistake, generally speaking, our party leaders are not hearing one another. They obviously have their own goals around ending the sequester. Some Democrats are fearful that letting the spending cuts take effect will negatively impact the day-to-day lives of citizens because of civil services that will no longer be available or at least, they will be available on a lesser scale. But the Republicans should stand their ground – maybe that will highlight the fact that such services should be handled at the state level anyway, so that they are not called into question because the federal government cannot balance its own budget.
What the Democrats want is to protect the middle class but what they do not realize (or care to acknowledge) is that part of what the Republicans are proposing will ultimately benefit the middle class as well. The Republicans don’t believe that they should have to agree to changes to the tax code to promote spending. But carefully considered changes to the tax code would encourage small business spending and therefore provide job opportunities for the middle class that the Democrats claim they are trying to protect.
Isn’t anyone besides me getting this??? There is a clear opportunity for compromise here, and nobody is biting. Then, we are back to the “spin,” with Obama trying to publicly shame Republicans into ending the sequester. Is that really all he has left in his bag of tricks??
