The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction-the Congressional Super Committee-failed to reach an agreement on a debt reduction plan leaving not only an uncertain fiscal future for the country, but an increased dwindling in confidence that our legislators have the aptitude or even the desire to put our country on an economically viable track.
The only thing that surprises me about this is that any one is surprised. It bears worth repeating here that it bordered on absurdity to charge the people culpable in getting the country into this mess to do diligence in not only putting up a viable solution, but holding to account those who were responsible.
In a political environment aptly described as having been a two party system whereby citizens entrenched in calcified conservative and liberal ideologies, are we not now seeing that neither of these sides is proving capable of solving a damn thing?
While it can hardly yet be called a success, the Occupy movement has been perhaps the most emblematic and tangible manifestation of the collective frustration of the American people. Our discontent with the sheer hubris of our legislators, nationally and locally, recklessly and shamelessly spending us into debt which may take generations to recover from, is growing with each passing day.
But something else is happening. A politically transcendent message appears to be emerging.
Last month, the Occupy St. George movement announced they would be attending a St. George City Council meeting. The local Tea Party movement met them there in what at first appeared to be a show of defiance to Occupy but something unexpected happened.
Gary Engleman, a local Democrat, was impeded from entering the city council’s chambers with his sign. He was told the Mayor had mandated that no signs be allowed and when he insisted it was his right to do so, he was told to vacate the public building, else be arrested for trespassing. (it is worth noting that not two months prior to the incident, a town hall meeting for Republican Senator Mike Lee was held in the same chambers and more than a dozen people brought signs in without incident, Engleman among them.)
What ensued was in my opinion remarkable. The Occupiers and Tea Partiers both expressed discontent with this presumed infringement of civil liberties. In the hours and days to follow, rational dialogue between the two movements took place and I dare say they found some common ground.
It may be somewhat idealistic of me to ponder the thought but what if these movements were to have more such dialoguing and find a common purpose to be united in? Their numbers would increase magnanimously as would their influence.
Might I suggest one such issue to unite on?
For some time now, I have contended that there lies at the core of all our economic and political woes a principle problem. That being embodied in this statement: Politicians do that which they are told to do. The problem isn’t that they are not doing it, it is who is telling them to do it. It should be the voter. It is the corporate lobbyist. Until this problem is addressed and remedied, it is fair to assert their will not be anything different in the political sphere for the foreseeable future and the people, that’s you and me, will continue to suffer the ramifications of our countries wealth being systematically extracted from us and our civil liberties continually dwindled down to a mere shadow of what they once were.
But there is more to this problem than corporately influenced legislators. There is also the abomination our corporately influenced press has become. It is bought and paid for and called news entertainment. If you are making decisions based upon what ratings and profit driven news sources are telling you, you are part of the problem.
It is the job of the journalist to honestly, unmercifully, and relentlessly pursue the truth and put it up for the public and we have failed you. Aptly called the fourth branch of government it is the duty of everyone to support and defend an unhindered and free press. It may be our last and dying hope to ever return to the ideals from whence we have strayed.
Asked directly, I would think anyone hard pressed to find someone who dismisses entirely the influence of corporate expansion on our politics and our press. This lethal combination makes for a subdued an uninformed public and there in lies a common objective for people of all political, religious, and socioeconomic bends. Recognize that until our legislators are held accountable to the standard of the voting populace over the lobbyists dollars, there can only be more of the same.
And holding the press accountable to operate free of advertising influence will not only serve in informing the people, but do the job intended by the First Amendment, that of holding elected officials accountable for their performance in their respective offices.
Understand what is not being implied here. It is not anti-government or anti-press sentiment I am suggesting. It is responsible government being held to account by an informed and involved populace helped in part by an unhindered press.
Ask yourself honestly if this is what we have not only nationally but here locally and see what you come up with.
Henry David Thoreau wrote: “But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.”
This in my opinion, is a good place to start.
See you out there.
