{"id":30653,"date":"2011-07-26T07:56:43","date_gmt":"2011-07-26T13:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=30653"},"modified":"2011-07-27T07:57:51","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T13:57:51","slug":"we-must-come-together-if-we%e2%80%99re-to-move-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/07\/we-must-come-together-if-we%e2%80%99re-to-move-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"We must come together if we\u2019re to move forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

Washington often fails to function these days regardless of who is in office, which party controls things, and how hard they\u2019re trying to get things done. We \u2013 the majority who want to see more compromise \u2013 need to demand a functional Washington.<\/h4>\n

I originally intended this column to be about how Washington needs to buckle down and solve our debt crisis before the nation defaults. As I wrote, I realized that there\u2019s a much deeper problem.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been watching the negotiations between President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others, and I really think they\u2019re trying to come up with a solution all can live with.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure Democrats think Republicans need to budge on their pledge to not raise revenues. And I\u2019m sure Republicans think Democrats need to accept more dramatic reforms to entitlement programs.<\/p>\n

So they\u2019re haggling and arguing and making dramatic speeches for the media to amplify around the globe.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t that Boehner or Reid or Obama wants the nation to default. It\u2019s that they haven\u2019t been able to find a way to stop it.<\/p>\n

The problem is systemic. Washington often fails to function these days regardless of who is in office, which party controls things, and how hard they\u2019re trying to get things done.<\/p>\n

The results are pitiful. Decades ago we put humans on the moon several times. Now we can\u2019t get to the International Space Station without paying Russia to take us there.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a Democratic problem, and it\u2019s not a Republican problem. It\u2019s a Washington problem, and beyond that, it\u2019s a societal problem. The government put in place by We the People has failed<\/a> to keep us at the forefront of space exploration. That could have all sorts of military, scientific and other consequences.<\/p>\n

And now the government has taken us to the brink of defaulting on our debt. If that happens, we\u2019ll be sending a message to the rest of the world that we really are a society in decline and there\u2019s nothing we can do to stop it.<\/p>\n

\u2018No way to run the greatest country on Earth\u2019<\/h3>\n

\u201cThis is no way to run the greatest country on Earth,\u201d Obama said Monday evening<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous game that we\u2019ve never played before, and we can\u2019t afford to play it now \u2013 not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can\u2019t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington\u2019s political warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s right. But Obama, who ran on a promise to make these red and blue states the United States, has failed to do that. We\u2019re more divided now than we\u2019ve been at most times in our nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Our politicians, and the two political parties to which almost all of them belong, are largely to blame. By dividing Americans they rile up their bases and preserve their own power.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re not the only ones to blame. The media plays a significant role by reporting spin and counter-spin without sorting through it all to find the truth. It loves to amplify fights because they make good TV and sell newspapers.<\/p>\n

Special interest groups contribute to the problem. Like the political parties and the media, they play up divisions to get their bases worked up. It helps them raise money and increase their influence.<\/p>\n

Corporations play a role. Their influence in Washington is staggering. Republicans in the House are unwilling to budge on a key point in negotiations right now because of the influence the wealthiest Americans have over them.<\/p>\n

We need to demand a functional Washington<\/h3>\n

But, ultimately, the blame lies with the American public. Our political system is divided and seeks to divide us only because we allow it. Our media sensationalizes and oversimplifies issues because that\u2019s what we watch and read. Special interest groups and corporations have power only because we cede it to them.<\/p>\n

Some 80 percent of those surveyed in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll<\/a> said they are either \u201cangry\u201d or \u201cdissatisfied\u201d with the way Washington works. That\u2019s the highest that number has been in almost 20 years.<\/p>\n

A significant majority of those surveyed said everyone in Washington \u2013 the president and congressional Republicans and Democrats \u2013 hasn\u2019t been willing enough to compromise on the budget deficit. Americans want our government to function.<\/p>\n

So we have political leaders wanting to find compromise, and Americans wanting them to find compromise, but it still isn\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n

We \u2013 the majority who want to see more compromise \u2013 need to demand a functional Washington. It\u2019s one thing to answer a poll question. It\u2019s another to vote, to write or call your member of Congress, to picket outside his or her office, to send a letter to the editor. It\u2019s another to buy the newspaper or watch the TV program that puts the news in context instead of the one that sensationalizes.<\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s another thing entirely to work for the change you want to see happen.<\/p>\n

Turning this ship around<\/h3>\n

Americans have been compromising to solve serious problems for more than two centuries. That\u2019s what our Constitution envisions: that hundreds of senators and representatives from different walks of life, who we elect to serve us, will jointly find better solutions to our nation\u2019s problems than any one of us would on our own.<\/p>\n

That core principle \u2013 that we must come together if we\u2019re to move forward \u2013 is what makes our Constitution brilliant. We need to look to it right now.<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t turn this ship around, I fear what the future will hold for our children.<\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Commentary page<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington often fails to function these days regardless of who is in office, which party controls things, and how hard they\u2019re trying to get things done. We \u2013 the majority who want to see more compromise \u2013 need to demand a functional Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[118,134,116],"class_list":["post-30653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-economy","tag-media","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}