Righting the Ship of State

Republicans cannot even cheer our nation’s success any longer. They don’t need to cheer the President, but why not salute those successes the nation achieves?
by Charlie Leck

A good friend of mine, who also blogs,* recently posted these snippets from President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“In the last 22 months, we’ve added 3 million jobs.”

“GM is once again the number one car manufacturer in the world.”

“Women should earn equal pay for equal work.”

This blogging friend also pointed out that he watched the Speaker of the House, John Boehner (Republican), virtually sit on his hands during those remarks. There was no applause from him and generally none from the members of the Republican Party (I’ll bet Olympia Snowe was an exception to that!).

How can one not applaud the marvelous success of General Motors? How can one, Republican or Democrat, not applaud the idea that women should get equal pay for equal work? You’ve got me, but that’s what politics has become in the 21^st century.

Is it any wonder that Olympia Snowe, Republican U.S. Senator from Maine (about whom I blogged yesterday), announced that she was going to pack up her office this coming autumn and retired from politics – politics in which she can no longer find very much pleasure.

I’m hoping more and more and more moderate Republicans are getting fed up with the current character of their Party and will give its leadership a spanking this fall by voting for Democrats. Let’s get the Ship of State righted again!

*Prairie Pondering by Sam Stern

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Olympia Snowe (Republican) will Retire! Dang it!

A sensible, intelligent Republican is stepping down because she doesn’t like the direction of current politics.
by Charlie Leck

“Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term. So at this stage of my tenure in public service, I have concluded that I am not prepared to commit myself to an additional six years in the Senate.” [Olympia J. Snowe, U.S. Senator from Maine]

Olympia Snowe is a politician of the sort you’d like them all to be. If you want to know more about Snowe, here’s a good story in this morning’s Washington Post. On the other hand, you all know how to search in Google these days.

As for me, I’m really sorry to see her go. She has always been a voice of reason and one eager to do the right thing rather than the political thing. She is a rare bird among Republicans and, perhaps, among politicians in general. I have immense admiration for her and always enjoyed hearing her speak because she was worth listening to.

There are strong feelings among Democrats that they might be able to win this Senate seat in Maine. I hope so, but that is really beyond the point right now. The nation needs to salute the gentlelady from Maine who served so brilliantly.

The Washington Post summed up the political situation this way.

“Given her continued popularity, her retirement is a rebuke to the partisanship that has come to define the political times in Washington. Snowe’s willingness to compromise and work with the other side has frequently put her out of step with her party, and Democrats have often looked to her as one of the Republicans willing to break ranks with the GOP leadership. Snowe’s reputation as a moderate has grown as fewer and fewer senators on either side of the aisle have been willing to take bipartisan actions.”

A very grateful nation says thank you to Olympia Snowe!

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Politics once led A Wonderful Life

I can remember when politics was positive – when parties competed to present the best ideas to grow the nation and secure the futures of all the people! They were the good old days!
by Charlie Leck

I’ve become a follower of the bog of Minnesota’s former Governor, Arne Carlson (Governor Arne Carlson). His blog this morning is Bedford Falls or Pottersville. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It says everything that I’ve been trying to say about the weird direction of state and national politics.

“…Republicans produced an endless array of truly talented legislators from all over Minnesota who came to our capital city to govern and always with an eye to the future. Simply put, Republicans, like their counterparts, the Democrats, felt that good politics stemmed from the competition of good ideas that produced quality governance.

“And in this mix, leaders from every walk of life and every profession from medicine to agriculture participated. There seemed to be a sense of obligation to give something of oneself in order to build a better community for our children.”

Please go to this blog and read it – and it doesn’t matter if you are from Minnesota or not! It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat. This is a statement that we’ve got to force our politicians to heed.

Unfortunately, Carlson is a hollow and little heard voice in the Republican Party these days. Not too much attention will be paid to this message by the current handlers of his former party. That’s too bad! I long for the days when Republicans and Democrats could talk to each other and not despise each other.

Carlson is leaving behind an enormous and positive legacy. He is hailed by many in our state as its finest governor ever!

I have a feeling – I just have a sneaky feeling – that a new day is not so far ahead; it’ll be a day when the people clean house and bring leaders to prominence in both parties who will again practice the gentle art of political compromise and cooperation.

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I’m Tuning-Out American Politics

Give me that old time classical music station from now on because I need some peace in my soul!
by Charlie Leck

For a long time – years and years – I’ve enjoyed waking up in the early morning hours to BBC Radio and NPR. A little news reporting from around the world brings me to and gets me thinking and going. I think, after the last few days – starting with the horror in Norway and now the awful and cranky voice of John Boehner talking about the debt crisis – I think I’m going to retune the radio to the classical music station and wake up to something soothing and sane.

This morning, Boehner was awful. His comments were the perfect example of what has happened to American politics, showing us that respect and moderate public debate are things of the past.

“President Obama hates it. Harry Reid hates it. Nancy Pelosi hates it. Why would Republicans want to be on the side of President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi [is] beyond me.”

The comment came in a Boehner interview with The Right Scoop blog (see below at about the 7:15 mark). Even Laura Ingraham, on that conservative blog, said the remark was “condescending.” And then went on to say…

“…if Boehner doesn’t understand that then he needs to step down as Speaker and hand the gavel to someone who does.”

I just can’t stand the attitude that Boehner brings to his job. He’s a frightening man who makes appeals to the lowest standards of human decency. How sad! If you want to listen to the interview, watch the video below; but I recommend you don’t put yourself through it.

I like to visit and read Jim Wallis’ blog, God’s Politics, because I find it very uplifting and informational. This morning, Jennifer Kottler made the contribution and she says exactly what I feel about the current drift of American politics. I’ll leave you today with that. In the meantime, it’s classical music for me and to hell with politics!

Where Has All the Sanity Gone?
by Jennifer Kottler 07-27-2011

Where has all the sanity gone?

I, for one, never expected in my wildest dreams to pine for the days of Ronald Reagan. But I’m there.

And for everyone who is blaming “everyone” on this debt ceiling debacle, you’re just dead wrong. The Democratically controlled House and Senate in the 80s did not hold President Reagan hostage when he had to raise the debt ceiling. And that is exactly what is happening. And the problem is that this is a train wreck that has been months in the coming. The only thing that we don’t know is how bad the carnage will be.

But we do know who’s going to be hurt most: It’s the people who come to my church’s front door every day. It’s the guy I met last week who is trying to make ends meet with a $300 per week job (in New York City) with three kids and a wife, on parole, and at the end of his rope. He doesn’t need piecemeal charity; he needs an economic system that rewards hard work and allows him to work and provide for his family. He doesn’t want to end up back inprison, but he knows that he might go back to the underground economy so that he can feed his family. It was 104 degrees here last week, and he’s already thinking about his kids needing winter coats and boots and school supplies.

So let’s ruin an already weak economy because it’s really not going to hurt the people who make the decisions — the millionaires in Congress, and the corporate executives who put them there.

It’s also going to cost lives in the drought ravaged Midwest, and the poverty-stricken Global South. When elephants fight, it’s the mice that get trampled.

I can’t stay silent any longer. I’m calling my member of Congress (Praise Jesus! I have one to call again, now that I am no longer living in Washington, D.C. ) and my senators. But they are not holding up the process. You who live in “red states” and “red districts” need to raise your voices and let them know that there will literally be hell to pay if they don’t do something about this now. It’s not about ideology. It’s about the economy, stupid.

Trust me, I get the fact that these people only care about one thing — defeating Obama. At this point, I could care less about that. I care about the fact that the number of people coming to my church is multiplying and my capacity to help them is shrinking. And I’m sitting here on Park Avenue in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in one of the wealthiest cities in the world. It’s also one of the most expensive places to try and make ends meet if you are on the wrong end of the income spectrum. I can only imagine what my ministry colleagues are facing in other places.

So I’m pleading with whatever sanity remains in Washington to not take our country down over your political agenda. Give Obama the courtesy to do what he needs to do to run the country. You’ve got another 15 months to make your case that you could run things better. And if you think we’ll forget about this, you’re wrong. The people in need will keep coming to my door. I wish I could send them to yours.

Rev. Jennifer Kottler is the associate pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York, New York. A long-time advocate for justice, Jennifer has served in advocacy ministry for more than eight years through her work at Protestants for the Common Good (Chicago, IL), the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, the Chicago Jobs Council, and at Sojourners.

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Solution to America’s Political Log-Jam

Has it always been like this?
by Charlie Leck

A good friend wrote a long email to me in response to a number of my blogs about the dominance of politics in the federal legislative process these days. He posed a convincing argument that it “has always been thus so.” He used the process of appointing Supreme Court Justices as his prime example. He pointed to nominees all the way back to Abe Fortes during the Lyndon Johnson administration and G. Harold Carswell by President Richard Nixon. He also points to the Senate hearing over the appointment of Clarence Thomas by President George H. W. Bush (or George the First, as I like to call him).

I wasn’t nuts about my friend’s reasoning here. Abe Fortes was turned down by the Senate for reasons that went way beyond political. Fortes had some serious skeletons in his closet and even the strength and power of Lyndon Johnson could not save the nomination. Carswell’s appointment by Richard Nixon was an extraordinary mistake. Carswell had a history of supporting segregation and he wasn’t very strong on women’s rights either. His rejection by a highly pressured Senate (45 to 51) went far beyond partisan politics.

I don’t get my friend’s point about Clarence Thomas. Certainly there was a very contentious battle in the Senate over his nomination, but there ought to have been; and the vote did come down to straight political lines and that was too bad. However, I remember the Thomas hearings with great clarity and there was genuine hand-wringing and gut-wrenching on both sides of the aisle during those hearings. Thomas should not have been nominated. The Senate had to decide about embarrassing the President by rejecting him or allowing a candidate with a questionable moral history to take a seat on the highest bench in the land. In the end, there was great torment among a good number of Republicans who voted for Thomas. His confirmation was one of the silliest and bleakest moments in American political history.

Remember, the recent appointment of Sonja Sotomeyor to the Supreme Court was approved by several members of the Republican Party.

Yet, these briefs moments of political bi-partisanship do not change my argument.

To make my point one more time, the sharpness of political division that we are witnessing in America today has no historical precedent in this nation. This has become the standard modus operandi in Congress and in elections to national office.

President Obama has unsuccessfully tried to break down this system in order to fulfill his dream that would establish a Congress that really works for the people and not for political parties. Blame is to be placed pretty evenly on each side of the aisle and the current log-jam looks like it will not be broken up in the next decade. My argument several blogs ago was simply that the current political mood is one created under the direction of Karl Rove during the George W. Bush (George the Second) administration.

Karl Rove is a name that history will remember and I don’t believe history, in its judgments, will be very kind to him.

It is more interesting for me to consider how history will treat Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He has a sharp and informed legal mind. He writes well. He is philosophically unyielding and unbending. Yet, he is an angry and tormented man. He has been on the bench for nearly twenty years and is yet to ask a single question during the legal presentations before the justices. Is that normal? A few of his dissents, such as the one that argues that cruel and unusual punishment does not apply to prisoners, leave me shaking my head in disbelief.

I remain adamant on my point that America has never in its history been as strongly and unyieldingly partisan in its politics as it is at this particular moment. I was naïve enough to believe that Obama might bring some light to Washington and change the current system, but I was emphatically mistaken. The Republican intention has been made clear. It is too embarrass the President and to make sure he cannot be reelected.

This has happened before in American politics, but never to the cruel and perplexing extent that it happens now.

Put simply, political parties are too powerful and have too much sway in determining who will run and who will win in American politics. Legislators, who want to get reelected, are afraid of crossing the Party even though they may, at times, disagree with a stance the Party has taken.

Perhaps the solution to this is strict and harsh term limits so that legislators will not always be worrying about reelection. I like the idea of a limit of two terms for Senators and three for members of the House.