Confused

The minority runs the US Senate. The minority controls the US Judiciary. The White House was held captive for four years and yet the minority party controls the current party even though they are not in power in the White House. This is the picture of American politics in the year 2022. This confuses me.

Media reports the leaders of the GOP are running scared from the GOP agenda. When they are the GOP, why are they running from the agenda? Don’t they set that agenda? Don’t the majority votes in a party determine the agenda?

The American people when polled by prestigious, nonpartisan academic research organizations, are middle of the road politically. They also lead toward the progressive positions on abortion rights, voting rights, international relations, and addressing central issues of justice. They appear horrified by past and current discrimination against all minorities – black, Asian, gay, immigrants – and they very much favor religious freedom without mucking up public law pushing one religious view over another.

So why are public schools being pushed back 50 years in pedagogical policy and processes? Why is history being edited along conservative lines? Why are courts blocking laws that the people support? Why are congressmen and senators getting away with blocking forward movement on so many issues the people support?

One person, one vote. That is the law of the land and inculcated by the US Constitution. Checks and balances for the three branches of the federal government is there, too. So is ‘justice for all,’ and inalienable rights for the pursuit of happiness. The harbinger nation of all things democratic and guaranteed freedoms is currently the international symbol of the opposite.

Yes, I am confused. Yes, I don’t understand how we got here. Even more, I do not understand why we haven’t corrected this situation back toward our norm. Is our nation without leaders? Are our courts spineless? Does our elected government hear its own people? Do elections matter when the elected choose to do other than what the voters chose at the ballot box?

Recent polls report massive disaffection of all things government. I understand why. I don’t like it. I tend to support my government units. However, I am puzzled at their ineptness to right a sinking ship. It is one thing to hear the squeaky wheel; it is another to kowtow to the minority squeaky wheel. Pleasing all people all the time is absurd and impossible.

So, what do we do now? Re-engineer our constitution and government? Or throw the rascals out and start with a fresh slate of people? Both answers are not very good. They contain many unmanageable threats. So, the question remains, what do we do now?

Any suggestions?

January 25, 2022

 

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