Political Games--Part 1

Being a news junkie, I get my news from several sources. The majority of the news is political. We are “privileged” to have so much information about our government and the people we have “elected” to serve us.

If I could use some image using mere words and fonts to express dripping sarcasm, I would have done so for the previous two words in quotes.

The particular information that I get from the constant barrage of news has shown me what a game our government has become.

That’s right. Our elected representatives, with few exceptions, are playing a game with our lives, our towns, our money.

And this is perfectly okay with all of us. Fact is, we’re so used to hearing about the maneuvering that takes place in Washington that we don’t think it strange.

We should not blindly accept the current processes in government just because that is how things are done.

For example, when the president nominates an individual to fill a cabinet post, that person has to receive a certain number of votes from both houses of Congress to be confirmed in that position. This is part of the checks and balances in our government.

However, notice that the person many times must face rigorous questioning from Congress. Still all good. Still a part of the checks and balances. But pay close attention to the news media coverage and to the final vote. The news usually will report on the likelihood of whether the person will be confirmed and they do this from speaking with people in the know—people within the circles of Congress. This reporting takes place either before or during the questioning. So, unless the media is getting false information from those insiders, then most of the representatives have already made a decision about their confirmation vote. This makes me ask, why bother spending taxpayer money on the questioning process? Why not go straight for the vote? If the outcome has already been decided, what is gained from the questioning?

This makes me think that either the representatives really want to get good information to the public about the nominee or it’s a bunch of political posturing and political theatre. The members of Congress want to appear tough to each other and to their constituents. And what part of governing does ‘appearing tough’ serve?

It does not serve any part of governing—it serves the political interests of the representative.

Of course, we are not totally defenseless against this part of the game. The news media may not report this, but the voting record of all representatives is public information. If we want to take back the government, or at least give it to someone whom we think won’t play games, then we have that opportunity at the voting booth. Even before the next election, we have the right to contact the office of the representative and ask why she or he voted a certain way on any vote.

Sadly, two huge human obstacles get in the way. One is the fact that regardless of wanting our government to work without political ambition, it has functioned this way for so long, it is a large beast that would be hard to tame. And secondly, though we have the right and ability to question our representatives now and at election time, the general public is too apathetic to do so.