These are not teams, this isn’t a
game, and the only loser is you. There it is. My two cents on the topic of the
government shut down. If you’d like the $1.99 version keep reading and stick
with me, I promise to bring it full circle.
I
love competitive sports (o.k., in truth I love one sport, but you get the idea).
I am not alone either,
sports play an important role in our society. Aside from being fun and entertaining they also serve as a
means of transmitting our values (which is why they are so often used as
metaphors for other things). Our love of competition is deeply rooted in our
belief in fair play, teamwork, and justice (and of course winning). Furthermore, if you are a fan of any
pro sport, then you know that there is a lot of emphasis placed on loyalty. No
true fan jumps ship over a bad season, or even a string of bad seasons. You
stick by your team offering both emotional and financial support. You deal with
as many bad seasons as necessary because you know, in your heart, that the day
will come when your team will once again rise to the top. Loyalty is a good
thing… sometimes. Sometimes loyalty, like love, can be blind. Our unwavering
loyalty can cause us to depend more on our emotions than our minds and that
blinds us to the larger reality. Sometimes it causes us to blame the other
team, or even the other team’s fans. It keeps us from seeing that our team
might need to make some very real changes. Maybe we are holding on to players who just don’t have the
necessary skill set. Maybe we have players who possess a lot of talent but have
forgotten that they’re part of a team. Maybe we need to address leadership
issues. Maybe this team just isn’t
the same team we fell in loyalty with in the first place.
This metaphor isn’t complicated. I
am sure you understand where I am going with it, so I will not waste a lot of
time trying to tie what I just said to the current situation in congress.
Actually, I will not spend any time on it at all. The real problem is just how
easy that metaphor comes. Our current two-party system has led us to a place
where we treat the running of this country like a competitive sport. We choose
our teams and we dig in, ready for a fight to the finish, one in which someone
has to lose so that someone can win. That’s not what I want for my country. I
want a government that recognizes that most of its people are standing neither
to the extreme right nor extreme left but somewhere in the middle. I want
parties that recognize that it is their job to meet me where I stand and not
the other way around. I want politicians who spend less time convincing me that
I should support their liberal or conservative agendas and more time working
with each other to find some ground we can all agree on. I didn’t draft a
player, I chose a representative. I want debate, compromise, and when necessary
bargains, but not competition. As long as our representatives can continue to
convince us that we only have two options we will continue to be the only
losers. What is happening in congress today is both disgraceful and
unacceptable. Yet, I know, that few if any of our representatives will be made
to answer for this mess. Like
overly zealous fans we will blame the other guy for our losses, and we will
vote AGAINST him instead of FOR a representative that actually represents us (click
here if you want to better understand why I think this is a problem). Since
we believe that we only have two options everybody stays.
Maybe we can’t all win in sports,
but this isn’t a sport. There isn’t and shouldn’t be a limit to the number of players
on the field. The democrats and republicans are not teams and if we don’t
demand change, we all lose. To quote a meme a friend posted today “May I suggest the first 535 layoffs?”
Things you can and should do:
Inform yourself. The links below are good non-partisan
places to start.
FactCheck.Org (a
nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the
level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They monitor the factual
accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads,
debates, speeches, interviews and news releases)
OpenSecrets.org (The Center for Responsive Politics is the
nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect
on elections and public policy. Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the
organization aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a
more transparent and responsive government.)
Tax
Foundation (Founded in 1937, the Tax Foundation is the nation’s leading
independent, non-partisan organization providing sound research and analysis on
federal and state tax policy. This
link is to an article about what happens when there is a shutdown.)
Be Heard. If
you’re not happy contact your representative, your senator, and even the
president. The links below can help.
Find
Your Representative (address, phone and links to email)
Find
Your Senator (address, phone and links to email)
Contacting the
White House (links are here but the page claims that the shut down may
affect the ability to respond. Try anyway.)
Know Your Options.
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