My Rant of the Week...

Why can’t politicians stop pointing fingers at each other and actually accomplish something? WTF? The current Congress has forgotten that their roll is to dictate the funding or lack of funding that the President may use in times of conflict. It is not their roll to vote on strategy or threaten funding cuts to get the strategy that they want. Yet, that is what they have done over the last year… threaten to cut the funds if the President doesn’t follow their orders for how to use our troops overseas. This has been their main strategy in leu of striving to actually change anything that is within their roll as specified by the Constitution.

Well, our current Congress has finally accomplished something. As of today, this Congress has the lowest approval rating of any Congressional session in the history of the United States of America. 11%!!! That’s right, 11%!!! That is as shocking as it is sad. That means that 89% of Americans think the same thing that I think: In recent years, Congress has accomplished nothing. They are good for little more than pointing their fingers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and calling on everyone to blame the President. For the record, his approval rating continues to hover around 35%. Way better than 11%. Now that’s funny.

Congress has lost sight of what exactly their role is. The newly elected Democrat-heavy session was supposed to turn over a new leaf in American politics. After all, the Democrats have not had control of the White House since 2000 or Capitol Hill since 1996. It was time for a change and Democratic leaders like Kennedy and Pelosi claimed that their party was ready and had a plan of action to enact change. Instead of sweeping changes and the aforementioned “new leaf”, we have seen nothing but new censures and accusations directed towards the White House.

As many of you know, I am not the biggest supporter of the current President, so for me to choose him over the current Congress should tell you a little something about how terrible I believe their efforts of late have been. This is not a Democrats problem. This is not a Republicans problem. This problem crosses the dividing aisle more than any sort of alleged “bipartisan cooperation” has since the days of Reagan. I think I speak for at least 89% of America when I say, “stop blaming and start acting for God’s sake!”

We, as citizens who are (hopefully) registered to vote are not without fault. A great change is coming in our lifetime. “A revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough - but a revolution is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability” (JFK). It is time that we start being more responsible when it comes to whom we send to Washington. Then, do much better at holding them accountable after they are there. If we are too unintelligent or uniformed to differentiate between the same old crap that politicians force upon us, then we deserve our fate. Please VOTE, and then follow up on your vote and stop letting these people dictate what you think. America is advanced citizenship and we, as citizens are failing.

Let me conclude by saying that you will be hard pressed to find someone who loves this country more than I do, but that love causes me to become frustrated when the great legacy of our nation, that was built by so many, is tarnished by a few. On the Great Seal of the United States, the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum is emblazoned at the bottom. Translated, it says, “out of many, one”. It is a national mantra or motto of sorts. And yet, it seams that because of our nation’s aforementioned poor leadership and the unabashed selfishness of its people, we have too must Pluribus and not enough Unum.