You ever pay much attention to politics these days? If you do, you must be a little disappointed.
“If I can’t get my way, then I’ll just not play” syndrome seems to have swallowed many of our country’s political actors.
Sometimes I wish all political representatives would read Moby Dick, the 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville.
As you may recall, Captain Ahab commanded a whaling ship named ‘Pequod’, when a giant white whale named Moby Dick tore off his leg; Ahab’s ‘obsessive’ hunt for the whale resulted in a three-day chase and the demise of his ship and crew save one.
I’m thinking a similar demise might be in store for our own Republic because of a recent political ploy and ‘obsession’ to shut down the government with resulting consequences.
‘If I can’t have my way, you can’t have yours either.’
Like two little kids on a schoolground fighting over one ball, the game gets postponed.
Or perhaps political readings of Aesop’s fable about two hard headed goats should be required. This story goes a little like this:
Two Goats, frisking gaily on the rocky steeps of a mountain valley engaged each other above a steep chasm through which poured a mighty mountain torrent. A fallen tree formed the only means of crossing the chasm, and on this tree not even two squirrels could pass.
The narrow path would make the bravest tremble; not so our goats. Neither would step aside for the other to pass.
One set their foot on the log; the other did likewise; in the middle they hooked horn to horn. Neither gave way and so both fell, to be swept away by the roaring torrent below.
The moral of this tale?
‘It is better to yield than to come to misfortune through stubbornness.’
Do you see any resemblances to the Democrat and Republican parties in regard to ‘stubbornness’?
Do you believe this action of walking away from your responsibilities as elected officials a proper one?
Do you believe it may be the real beginning of our political demise? If one party disagrees, they simply put a stop to the entire operation of government like some kid who didn’t get a ‘sucker’ at the dentist’s office.
As a Warden, if my prison staff refused to come to work and jeopardize the lives of other staff and the inmate population by their actions, I would support personnel actions to remove them from their job.
Political representatives causing government employees not to be paid, and the military not to be paid are jeopardizing the security of this country.
What if the military said ‘if we don’t get paid, we don’t protect our country? Solve that one Congress!!!
Our enemies are most likely ‘salivating’ at the stupidity of many political representatives and their behavior.
If one party loses the election, and then by ill-advised thinking decides to demonstrate against the other political party by not cooperating and leaving their assigned posts, dismal results are anticipated for the future.
It is a dangerous game.
The Democratic party, in essence, is changing the political landscape since they are not fulfilling their responsibility to be present and vote.
In the not-too-distant future, one might suspect when the Republicans become the minority party in office, they will do the very same thing as the current Democrats (don’t show up to work and shut down government) when they disagree.
Aesop’s fable of goats seems to rule.
I’ve read that ‘Democracy is under attack’ and each party is accusing the other of destroying Democracy; however, both goats seem responsible.
If the minority party decides to oppose the majority party by vacating their desks in our current political system, can our nation survive?
Arnold Toynbee, the English historian, offered his analogy to history, ‘Civilizations emerge and thrive in response to challenges, but ultimately disintegrate when they fail to adapt creatively to new circumstances.
The same may be true of political governments.
If the Democrats want to change the system, campaign and become the majority; both parties could learn a lot by participating and cooperating instead of acting like a ‘goat’ on a narrow log where there is no way to pass.
I regret, like many, the current state of affairs in our country’s politics today.
A little common sense and cooperation by all involved parties would go long way in keeping this country’s image as a ‘Shining City upon a hill’ in place.
Today, that light seems to be dimming.
