Our View: Can we move beyond politics?
You have to wonder just how hard it will it be – win or lose – to get back to “business as usual” after all of those barbs that have been thrown, all of those bridges have been burned.
“H e hit me!”
“She made a face at me!”
“He did it first!”
“She looked at me!”
We’ve all been there, both as kids and now as parents – the jockeying for power, the quest for the upper hand, the desperate need to get in the last word. Even in the midst of such interactions, we realize we’re driven more by passion and emotion than sense and logic, but we allow ourselves to get caught up in the argument nonetheless.
This year’s political races seem to have been a bit more like those childhood discourses than usual. The arrows and daggers – along with the billions of dollars that have been expended on them – have been flying for weeks, and indeed months, now.
Harsh words and criticism from one side have been returned in kind by harsh words and criticism from the other side.
If one were to put stock in all of the claims made, we would be led to believe that all politicians raise their own salaries, kill jobs and tromp on the middle class. And while this, too, is a vast oversimplification of the facts, it just goes to show what’s wrong in all of this.
We’re trying too hard to cut down the other guy or party without putting equal or greater effort into putting a better plan into motion. The result is often a whole lot of anger, hard feelings and disillusionment with government on the part of the voters.
You have to wonder just how hard it will it be – win or lose – to get back to “business as usual” after all of those barbs that have been thrown, all of those bridges have been burned. The political parties have already come under harsh criticism for their seeming inflexibility in crossing over party lines to pass legislation or even carry on a reasonable dialogue on issues that affect all of us.
And so, with the elections over we must now turn our eyes toward the future. Can we settle to let bygones be bygones and move forward, or will we be like those little children who simply have to get the last word in, no matter what the consequences?
Wendy Johnson
Tags: opinion, editorials
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