Lack
Of Leadership Brings Troubled Times
By Gary Gerard, dumbhoosier.com
We seem to be living in some pretty troubled times.
Lots of people have lost faith in government and the approval rating
of Congress is at an all-time low.
According to a new poll from Quinnipiac University, more Americans
identify President Barack Obama as the worst occupant of the Oval
Office since World War II than any other postwar President,
including President Richard Nixon.
Of course, you can take all that polling stuff with a grain of salt.
There are a lot of variables that play into the answers respondents
give.
Nonetheless, polls do send a clear message that a majority of people
think this country is headed down the wrong path.
That’s really kind of sad. But frankly, who could blame them?
It seems our leaders are incapable of working together.
I’ve been watching politics for a long time and I must say I don’t
recall a time that was more divisive.
When Newt Gingrich and the Republicans wrested control of the House
of Representatives from the Democrats in 1994, it was the first time
that happened in more than 40 years.
Gingrich and the GOP campaigned on the “Contract With America.”
The contract was a document that came out during the 1994
Congressional election campaign. It spelled out conservative
measures the Republicans promised to put forth if they became the
majority party.
Now, to be sure, Democrats weren’t happy about this. They called the
document the “Contract On America” and were highly critical of its
contents.
But after the election, when the Republicans took over the House of
Representatives, President Clinton and Congress worked together to
pass some pretty meaningful reforms.
Things like a balanced budget amendment and welfare reform. Under
Clinton’s watch, the federal budget was carefully scrutinized and
the deficit was the lowest it had been in more than a decade.
He passed a huge crime bill, putting more cops on the street. He
bartered tax cuts for aid to Medicare and Social Security.
All that stuff sounds conservative, no?
But also under Clinton was the Brady Bill, assault weapons ban and
strict gun control measures. He ended the ban on gays in the
military with “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” He stood against big tobacco.
He presided over a generally healthy economy, adding jobs, improving
growth and seeing an increase in the average income of Americans.
The level of poverty decreased.
A lot of meaningful stuff got done while Bill Clinton was president.
But did this mean that he and the Republicans were buddies?
Are you kidding?
There was the time the government was shut down for 7 days in 1995
over a budget impasse.
There was Whitewater – the relentless investigation into the real
estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Jim and Susan
McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corporation
Anybody remember Kenneth Starr?
And finally, there was the Monica Lewinsky scandal during which
President Clinton admitted he lied under oath.
At that time, Democrats were in the minority in both chambers of
Congress.
The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton on
charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
After a Senate trial, all the Democrats in the Senate voted for
acquittal on both the perjury and the obstruction of justice
charges. Ten Republicans voted for acquittal on perjury and five
Republicans voted for acquittal on obstruction of justice.
Clinton was acquitted of all charges and got to remain president.
So what’s the point of all this 1990s history.
Only this:
Not matter how acrimonious. No matter how rancorous. No matter how
vicious the politics of the 1990s became, our leaders were, at
least, leaders.
They still managed to get stuff done. They still managed to pass
meaningful legislation. And whether you agreed with the laws that
were passed or not, laws were passed. Changes were made that catered
to members of both parties. They were able to work together, to
compromise.
And by most measures, times were pretty good for the average
American.
Not so much today.
There is still all the rancor and acrimony, but that’s all there is.
There’s no real policy. There’s speeches, threats and demagoguery,
but there’s no work getting done.
And when the work isn’t getting done, thing’s start to get a little
dicey. When you ignore problems, they get worse, until they reach
the point of crisis.
That’s what I see happening in today’s America. Our government knew
for months there was an impending immigration crisis building with
an influx of unaccompanied alien children from Central America.
Nothing was done.
Now the president has asked for $3.8 billion tax dollars to throw at
the problem.
Flashpoints in the Middle East have been flaring for the better part
of three years now and the government seems surprised by terror
groups tightening their grip on large expanses of sovereign nations.
A sluggish economy and unemployment above 6 percent seem to be the
new normal as the labor participation rate falls each month.
In the meantime, what are our leaders in Washington doing?
Fundraising, that’s what.
As sad as all this is, sadder still is what I believe the future
holds. With campaign finance the way it is today – corporations are
people, you see – only more money will pour into the political
process.
With gerrymandering in place, more and more “ideologically pure”
candidates will find their way to Washington, widening the political
divide and making compromise even more rare.
The ability to compromise, once thought as a hallmark of leadership,
is now considered a weakness. Those who seek to reach across the
aisle end up getting replaced.
Leadership in Washington today has little to do with doing what’s
best for the American people. Leadership today means mollifying your
political benefactors so you can retain power.
That’s no way to run a country.
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