EDITORIAL: Congress needs to rejoin real world
American politics have become so toxic they no longer can accomplish even the most basic functions of government.
With the memory of the fierce debt ceiling stand off still fresh in voters minds, this week congress came close to the brink again.
Republicans made clear their willingness to put the federal government into a partial shutdown over a funding bill that includes emergency relief funds.
While limiting government spending is an admirable goal, is FEMA funding really an issue worth scuttling government operations over?
We have come to a point in our national debate where ideology has made grandstanding significantly more important than ensuring our country operates safely.
While both sides argue over whose policies offer the best plan for getting our country out of a rut, grandstanding in the name of scoring meaningless points with pundits has led to inaction. It’s not as if these gestures do anything to bring hope to a shell-shocked country.
The public, left disgusted with congress and underwhelmed with a president who promised to be transformative, has no real option other than to support the diametrically opposed sides whose policies brought us into this mess.
The fact remains that government, especially the government of the third most populous country on Earth, is expensive.
While the importance of spending on certain programs is debatable, and the impact of certain social programs can depend on perspective, funding for infrastructure and programs like disaster relief are necessary for our system of government.
It has become sickeningly clear that Congress no longer exists to serve the interests of the people, but instead to provide a taxpayer-funded battlefield for two sets of ideals that are only realistic in a parallel dimension of red-versus-blue idiocy.
The U.S. needs change, and not the kind promised on posters printed by one party or the other. It needs more than inevitable ideological shifts, but instead systematic revision that can ensure this sorry state where two squabbling sides nearly shut our government down because they don't like each other never happens again.
