Ship Shape

I’ve recently enjoyed some time on Holland America’s Eurodam.  Being at sea is how I relax, and I’m really lucky that (so far) I’ve been on 16 cruises, spending nearly 5 months of my life off of dry land.  The merits of cruising aren’t the ship to focus on this week.  Instead we have to look at the lack of statesmanship of our political leaders as they play brinksmanship once again with the economy.
 
Surface tension is required to keep ships afloat – the phenomenon where water pushes back on the boat with a force equal to the weight of the water that is displaced.  Similarly in politics a tension must exist between the force of two extremes --- in this case having the government continue to spend like a drunken sailor versus the other side that wants to dry dock the government.  Compromise … or accommodation even … is essentially that surface tension.
I like to be right.  We all do.  More importantly than being right, I want results.  I won’t stand rigid just to prove that I’m right.  I’ll cajole, arm-twist (write blogs) and do a variety of other things to bring people around to my way of thinking – and then I’ll look at the situation and decide whether standing on principal is more important than getting something done.
Washington DC has 435 members of the House, 100 members of the Senate, a President and Vice President – along with some 17,000 lobbyists.  Coming to a balance between all of these competing interests has proven to be nearly impossible.
Each elected leader from President to Congressman to Senator has promised to be a person of action – when in fact they must work together to accomplish anything.  In our democracy nobody can rule by fiat. 
Imagine you’re hiring legislators.  The job description that would be put together would say “must work well with others” and “ability to find common ground” as requirements.  Yet Americans continue to place people in the job who insist on adhering to their own beliefs first. 
I’m as fiscally conservative as they come.  This ‘sequestration’ nonsense is just 2.5% of the budget, pennies.  Granted it’s not being implemented in a smart way – but that’s all politics.  The nation must only spend what it brings in, and if that happened there’d still be this $17 trillion deficit that would have to be paid off.  While more cuts are needed – and more revenue too – for now a fair tension would be some small cut in expenses 1% or 2%.
Unless something gives even at a miniscule percentage – the call you hear from the bridge will be to the lifeboat station.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Give me a break!

The idiom “give me a break” generally is used when you don’t believe something that has happened or been said. We’ve all muttered the expression a lot lately, especially around the 2016 Presidential race. I am going to use it here more literally. I started this blog in late July 2010. This is the 329 th iteration. At an average of 750 words that’s nearly 250,000 words. To compare that’s about three average mystery novels (at 80,000 words each), much less than the Bible (800,000 words) and nowhere near the IRS Code (4 million words). Originally Craig’s Corner was a way to keep me focused during a long stint where I was without work or income. With gainful employment it has become a welcome respite from the day-to-day tasks. I tend to focus on issues that are interesting to me but not necessarily a critical part of what I do day in and day out. My perspective isn’t unique, but I do look at the word with a different lens. I’ve tried hard not to be part of the echo chamber and been...
Read more

Hoping for Grace

I wrote this blog regularly for many years, 330 unique posts. Every Thursday I’d post my thinking for the week. I always strove to offer a perspective that wasn’t in the main discourse on a particular issue. It wasn’t left or right or even center – just looking at something from a different angle. There were some really great dialogues that happened with people who appreciated nuance and having a substantive conversation. I never sought for agreement from readers, just a healthy and respectful debate. The election of Donald J. Trump changed the engagement from polite discourse to flame throwing character assination if somebody disagreed. That wasn’t interesting or productive to me, so the blog no longer served its intended purpose. I return to the format because today because it seems to be a good way to explore an issue that I’ve been long committed to, but handled in a thoughtless way. Recently I made a thoughtless comment on a Facebook post that was undeniably racist, and demean...
Read more

Giving the gift

Image
The holidays are right around the corner. It’s a time of reflection, excitement and no matter one’s religious predilections a there’s a tradition of gift giving. Talking about the holidays before Halloween is usually met with revulsion and resistance. This time it’s different. While we can’t grant everybody’s #1 wish – that the 2016 U.S. Presidential election cycle be over – maybe we can do something close.   Let’s give Donald J. Trump what he’s been talking about. I’m wary of adding to the proliferation of commentary on the Grand Old Party’s nominee. But then maybe there’s something to the Trump complaints. Instead of dismissing everything that comes out of his mouth as made up, perhaps we should be doing is more of what he worries about, not less. The more recent complaints from the real-estate tycoon have to do with media bias. All “the media” does is lie, distort and never gives him fair coverage. This same media generated over a billion dollars of free brand and...
Read more