Collaborative Government

We the people do establish our government and its nation. Furthermore, it is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Pretty simple, right? Well, no; accordingly to the republicans this is a government that has to be fought for and destroyed before it is made right. Unfortunately for them and the rest of us, they don’t seem to have an idea what that is. No programs. No ideas. No solutions. Just problems. Not even problems well defined; just problems. As though they have no responsibility for them, didn’t cause them, or whatever.

The rest of us get it. Like Abraham Lincoln said, ours is a government of, by and for the people. That means everyone. Each gains benefit, but they also have an obligation to make it work. Destroying it is not an option because too many would be hurt if not downright destroyed.

So. Here. We. Are. It is 2015 and we have a lot of work to do. Good things need to get done. Hard things need to be worked out. Problems need definition and solution. Not one or the other; both; at the same time or close to it.

Individuals are the only ingredient to a society or its government. Or its philosophy, for that matter. Philosophy and values accumulate through time with experience. Trial and error teaches us the valuable lessons. We cannot always be told what to do and understand the full meaning of it. We have to live it, make mistakes, and fully appreciate the experience we gain. Not all of it will be good. But all of it is valuable experience from which to learn.

Democracy – at least America’s sort – is messy. Not every society can stomach what we put up with in America. But we do because it is how we learn our civics lessons. For many generations we learned the lessons. Each generation struggles along its own journey until they get it as well. So elections are encountered; some are lost and some are won. Consequences are mostly OK but some are dire. 2000 and 2004 elected a boob at the head of a poor management team. They turned the economy upside down and forever have blamed others for that. No; it was them. Bush/Cheney did so much damage it has taken over a half generation to put the pieces back together again.

And what do we hear? More of the same going into the 2016 presidential election. Incredible fear mongering among Clinton haters; one wonders if they realize it is Hillary this time, not Bill? They are so fixated on fear that I doubt they realize Hillary is running and most likely will win. That must truly gall them; thus the fear, loathing and awful machinations taking place in the public arena these days.

The Benghazi Hearings are a joke. They have been stretched out for years. They are blaming Hillary for what they themselves did – starved the State Department so it could not adequately build defenses for many of its diplomatic outposts, especially ones like Benghazi. Even with pleas for budgets to do so, republicans said no. And so world terrorists took aim at our weakest links and burned them down. They killed our diplomats. Instead of circling the wagons and seeking solutions, republicans only seek blame. And only for the purpose – the one purpose – of eliminating Hillary as a candidate for President.

They won’t do it, however. Because Hillary is proving to be the most presidential of all the candidates. It takes guts. It takes standing up to bullies. It requires putting up with all sorts of nuts who shout nonsense and seek attention. Well they have the attention. It’s all on them, and it amounts to seeing them as foolish empty haters.

Benghazi should not be politicized. It is a foreign affairs management issue that is well in hand despite all the grandstanding and obfuscation thrown on the heap.

When we seek civil government this is precisely what I mean: seek out problems, define them, and fix them so they become a strength not a continuing weakness. The nation will benefit from this. Politicians are not good at fixing things. They are good at stirring up trouble where none exists.

Abraham Lincoln would council repair, cooperation and collaboration.

That latter term appears to be something republicans do not understand.  Hopefully it will not damage the nation too much before voters set this right.

I hope Hillary gives the congressional committee hell for standing in the way of good governance. I know, however, that even if she does give them hell, the media and republicans will claim the opposite occurred.

That’s what I mean by having the stomach for this form of government. Like aging, democracy is not for sissies.

October 22, 2015