Change The Way You Look At Things . . .
The mission of Factcheck.org is etched onto a small sign in the company’s office — “Just The Facts.” But rarely are facts absolute in the election of 2012. There are Mitt Romney’s facts and President Obama’s facts, liberal facts and conservative facts. There are facts provided by the mainstream media (“sometimes slanted,” Farley says), think tanks (“flawed”), analysts (“opinionated”) and television commercials (“not to be trusted”). There are Internet facts that are not, in fact, facts at all.
EXCERPT:
“They’re both in this,” Simpson said of the warring Democratic and Republican parties. “They worship the god of re-election.”
How about this:
If the legislative and executive branches can’t figure this out like responsible civil servants before the looming Thelma & Louise moment, then they’re the first one’s to lose their jobs.
Just an idea …
Our Senate and Congress need to understand that differences of opinion are healthy for the governance of our country BUT they must also understand that compromise after the discussion of the differing opinions, perhaps called diplomacy, is just as important. We elect our representatives to govern NOT to be opponents of our considered governance. We should be one nation that is considered and indivisible.
Submitted by Ted S. on Tumblr
Amen! This is what gives our system of government endless potential. For how much longer will this potential be squandered at the expense of its citizens and the world?
An important statement that I think captures the feelings of many of the individuals I’ve been chatting with lately, including myself. In a representative government, it’s partially our responsibility to hold our elected public servants accountable.
This great nation will change for the better when more of us speak up and take positive actions to effect change. My suggestion to Washington, D.C.:
Enough with the rhetoric! Show me. Prove it!
When you’re afraid of drowning, you don’t need someone to describe the water … you need someone who can help you build a raft.
(via We Are #indivisible| Starbucks Coffee Company | Starbucks Coffee Company)
I suppose one has to recognize the symbolism that the mere act of taking a vacation poses in an economic and political climate such as the one we are currently in, but isn’t this insistence that President Obama cancel his vacation a bit of an overreaction?
Do any of these critics truly believe that even though President Obama will be “vacationing” in Martha’s Vineyard, he won’t also have an entourage of advisers and staff around him, holding meetings, reviewing, and making plans? I highly doubt that escaping the presidency is so simple - I surely hope it’s not.
Our jobs take a lot out of all of us and there’s something to be said about taking some time to spend with your family from time to time, escaping from the high-pressure environment that we’re used to, and take a few breaths in order to refocus and re-energize ourselves.
In light of how the whole recent debt-ceiling debate played out, I think that it’s probably very wise to step away for a bit and re-examine priorities and strategies for when Congress reconvenes because there are plenty of tougher decisions that lay ahead.
“Turning to Obama’s call for tax reform, Cantor wrote: ‘Over the next several months, there will be tremendous pressure on Congress to prove that S&P’s analysis of the inability of the political parties to bridge our differences is wrong. In short, there will be pressure to compromise on tax increases. We will be told that there is no other way forward. I respectfully disagree. As we have said from the beginning of the year, the new Republican Majority was elected to change the way Washington does business. We were not elected to raise taxes.’”
This is the the kind of ridiculous rhetoric that does nothing to improve hope in our fiscal situation or our government. It will be interesting to see how voters respond to this in November and even more interesting when the supercommittee presents it’s recommendations.
“‘It’s not a lack of plans or policies that’s the problem here. It’s a lack of political will in Washington,’ the president said. ‘It’s the insistence on drawing lines in the sand, a refusal to put what’s best for the country ahead of self-interest or party or ideology. And that’s what we need to change.’”
While I don’t disagree, Mr. President, I’m still wondering why we didn’t heed the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission when we had the chance.
I’m convinced that we will figure this out because I believe that, at times like these, its important to put faith into the American voters.
After the many months long debt-ceiling debacle we were witness to on TV and in the papers, I’m now reading that Republican leadership fully intends to continue their unflapping stonewall on generating revenue, leaving me to wonder if we’ve really accomplished anything at all or if this was merely a really bad opening act to an even worse concert.
Sure, we’ve dodged default (for now), but the real issue isn’t about spending or taxes. It’s not about being a Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal. The real issue is the deterioration of American confidence in who we are as a nation and in the efficacy of our democracy.
I’m reminded of an inspiring public address given by former President Jimmy Carter back in the late 70’s:
The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July. It is the idea which founded our nation and has guided our development as a people. Confidence in the future has supported everything else — public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has defined our course and has served as a link between generations. We’ve always believed in something called progress. We’ve always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.
“Late last week, pollster Mark Blumenthal summarized the ‘consistent findings’ from the polling on the debt ceiling. First, he said, ‘Americans prefer a deal featuring a mix of tax hikes and spending cuts to a deal featuring just spending cuts.’ Second, ‘most of the surveys find strong sentiment in favor of compromise, especially among Democrats and independents.’ Finally, ‘the surveys all show Americans expressing significantly more confidence and trust in President Obama’s handling of the issue than of either the Republican or Democratic leadership in Congress.’”
POTUS will be addressing the nation @ 9:00pm tonight on all major networks.
This is a worthwhile read that does a nice job summing up the independent voter’s sentiments on this topic.
“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.”
If this debate has truly been hijacked by the ideological ends our two-party system, then it leads me to wonder, “Who’s at the table representing the voice of the middle? The independent voter? Mainstream America?”
