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Posts Tagged ‘United States Constitution’

Working or Fighting: Your Choice

October 30th, 2014 No comments

Leading up to next week’s elections—November 4—the mail, newspapers, radio, and TV are saturated with political ads.  Time and again, Democrats and Republicans say, “I’m going to fight for you.”  That’s the big problem we have on all levels of government—there’s just too much fighting.  I’m looking for the candidate who says, “I’m going to work for you.”   We need politicians who spend time “working”—not “fighting”—with their fellow legislators on the other side of the aisle. 

 

We hear political pundits—both the Democrats and Republicans—saying it is a mistake to compromise: “We must stand up and fight for what we believe in.”  It is important to hold firm on principles that are the very core of who you are, but in most instances, it is possible to reach consensus.  However, it takes “give” and “take”—and that takes work—it doesn’t just happen. Read more…

Ingenious Compromise: Reason for Hope

August 1st, 2014 No comments

Here are some headlines appearing in major newspapers recently:

  • “A Deeply Divided Supreme Court . . .”;
  • “Divided Congress is Deeply Fractionalized . . .”;
  • “The Deep Divide in Congress . . .”;
  • “Obama Warns a Divided Congress . . .”;
  • “The Sharp Political Divide in America . . .”;
  • “The Most Divided Congress Ever . . .” 

These stories all suggest that the United States today is so divided along political lines that the politicians are unable to pass meaningful legislation and that judges (even in the Supreme Court) are unable to make unbiased legal decisions.  But does a sharply divided America necessarily mean that no meaningful legislation can emerge from our political leaders on both sides of the aisle?  I don’t think so!  Read more…