The Debt Ceiling and Economic Default
Its been a while since I’ve written about political issues - primarily just because of time. But my frustration with our government’s ongoing inability to do its job has driven me to write something just to vent my own disgust with our elected representation. There is more than enough coverage - from he left and the right - to cover the basics of the topic. So, I won’t repackage those here. I will however, link to a commentary by John Avlon hosted at CNN. In it, he does a good job of reflecting the anger and frustration that I think most centrist citizens feel right now. I would underline one of his central points here:
America is now in serious risk of defaulting on our debt because we cannot reason together. Reasoning together requires that everybody be willing to give a bit on their ideal position.
A lot of my conservative friends will flout at this source saying that it is liberal media (ironic, given the strength of conservative media) but that misses the point. In fact, I’ll acknowledge the left leaning of this author just as I recognize the right leanings of David Brooks, another of my favorites. My point is that our representatives cannot compromise. Its reflective of the extremist make-up of the officials that get elected. As a country, we’ve failed because we’ve elected people who cannot work together - can’t compromise.
I’m opposed to taxes, and I think the government spends to much. But I’m not stupid enough to think that a solution won’t require give on both of these positions. I acknowledge that at times, government gridlock is a very good thing - it stops us from doing the crazy things that extremists propose. But there are times where all the political invective needs to be put aside, and government just needs to get the job done. That time is now, or the continuing decline of America will take a pretty steep step forward.
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