A few thoughts on politics...

There have been many mornings when I've started (or at least thought about starting) to write a political post, but then I decided that it just doesn't feel like a good way to start the day. Then, rather than writing something else, I just don't write anything at all.
I suppose that is why I have posted so few times in recent months.

Today I decided that perhaps the best therapy will be to go ahead and post a few thoughts. Maybe writing some things down will begin to lift the oppression that has kept me from writing and let me move on.

While there is certainly much to be said of the administration and all of the drama that surrounds it, I think I will choose to ignore the scandal and the divisiveness that is coming from the White House and move on to the two Houses of our Congress.

I'm really wondering when these people will understand that there is going to have to be some working together if they are going to fulfill their role in governance. For years, the Democrats cried about the majority Republicans that acted as obstructionist to everything President Obama wanted to pass. Now it is the Republicans that see the minority Democrats as the ones causing the seemingly endless gridlock.
When the extremes rule the parties, nothing gets accomplished. Even within the parties there are constant intimidation tactics and power struggles between competing factions.

Let's just look at healthcare --
Healthcare takes up a huge portion of our national budget -- ONE SIXTH, and yet the divisions over how it should be managed is divided along party lines and further divided within the Republican party (and to a lesser degree, the Democrats).

ONE SIXTH!
That means that within every representatives state and district, there are people that will be both helped and hurt by the decisions they make. Why can't they come together to maximize the number of people being helped and minimize the number of people being hurt?
From the chair in my modest living room, it seems like the simple answer to that question is that the hurting people don't have any money to send them to buy their votes and the corporations that seek to profit from their votes have lots of money to send.

And healthcare is just one of the many important issues that is on the Congressional agenda.

As the current minority party, the Democrats have no choice but to work with Republicans to pass legislation. Without 60 votes in the Senate, Senate Republicans need to find some common ground with Democrats to pass legislation. Until they realize this, it really doesn't matter what distractions come out of the White House as far as legislation is concerned. Do Nothing will continue to be the status of our nation's legislative branch of government.

Ugh!
I'm going to need a long ride to relax and re-center my mind on more important things like burgers on the grill and the struggling St Louis Cardinals -- but that's another rant!

John <><