For those that say they hate what is going on in Washington, why do you continue to send Republicans there? They have set the House of Representatives up to be gridlock since they took charge. They bragged one year that if people want a say in the House they need to send more Republicans. They do this with the anti-constitutional policy that any bill that will be brought up for a vote must have the support of the majority of the Republican caucus.
So any Bill that a Democrat comes up with will never see the light of day because it needs to get the support of half the Republicans in the chamber. Is that really a good principle? Or it the actions of a party that wants to be dictatorial?
The whole point of sending all these people to Washington is to get bills that are not too Conservative or too Liberal. By making it so only one side has a say in the bills that come up, Republicans hamper the brilliance of the founders and create a dysfunctional chamber that is too conservative. The middle way has been the way of the United States since the founding. The Constitution was built on compromise. Its stability is based on continuing to compromise.
Ben Franklin was instrumental in getting the compromise that became our Constitution. He talked about people like he was describing partisans today. He said, “Most men indeed as well as most sects in Religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error.”
When talking about bringing men together, he said, “For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does.”
It came so close to perfection because everyone had a say to what should be done. And the zealots were moderated by those that were between the extremes. Zealots result in dysfunction and in order for the system to work, the zealots must be talked away from the edge. When the only ones that have a say in the piece are those on one side, the zealots have too great a say. Nothing gets done or what does angers those with no say.
And the zealot followers of the Republicans crow that the dysfunction was because of the Democrats in the Senate and the Presidency. If you don't allow input in the bills passed why would you expect the other party to pass the zealot bills that were passed in the House? It was designed to create gridlock and result in the anger.
He then described what the enemies of the United States wanted. He said, “I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats.”
Who do those words seem to describe today? People who will not compromise and those are the same people likely to be re-elected on Tuesday. They are performing their job in the interests of no one but themselves because they have the hubris to believe that they have all the answers.
Ben Franklin also spoke about how the differences he had with the Constitution and how he handled it. He said, “The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us in returning to our Constituents were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign Nations as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity.” What political party again sent a letter in opposition to the President to Iran? They speak of wanting to do the founder’s intent with the Constitution and instead they spit on it.
Compromise is the absolute foundation of the Republic. As Ben Franklin said, “When a broad table is to be made, and the edges of planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint. In like manner here, both sides must part with some of their demands.” As the Tea Party has taken over, Republicans will not give up some of their demands. They want 100% or they want nothing to happen. That is not a position that is acceptable with the Constitution.
People who are angry at Washington should be angry at those who are causing the problem to begin with. And they continue to proclaim their anti-Constitutional leanings as the days lead up to the election. They have refused to do their Constitutional duty regarding the Supreme Court justice and now they say they will not do it if a Republican is not elected president.
If a party will not compromise for the good of the nation, it should not be supported.
