I was unaware until Friday and today US elections in November had become an international sporting event. It seems Russia is working for Trump and China is working for Biden. I was aware that Russia interfered in our 2016 national elections by disseminating false information, but I was unaware this would be the case again this November. I have also been concerned about the lack of outrage in every quarter of our nations life.
I guess I naively believed that such knowledge of what happened in 2016 would create such a tsunami of voter fury and outrage that something would have been done in Congress to prevent this from happening again ever. Foolish me! Now not just being satisfied with corruption running through Washington like the mighty Mississippi, our election process has been compromised like a “Banana Republic” south of the border on which a small wall has been built.
So, Congress cannot agree. Children often cannot agree because their small minds cannot fully see the options or comprehend the stark realities of the failure to compromise. Apparently, we thought we were electing Representative and Senators, but apparently not. We have sent children to Washington. And sadly, children who are not up to the awesome tasks of this time.
Children's games often take the same course. If it is a 2 team game: tag/touch football, soccer; basketball, baseball, sides are chosen and play till either it is dark, the kids get bored, or supper is ready.
This isn't that.
Governing this nation, until 2017, the leader of the free world, is not child's play, nor is it a game. It was and never has been a game. Real lives are decided by what goes on or fails to go on in Washington. Men and women serving our nation are deployed at great risk to themselves and great impact on their families. Budgets are proposed which spend the tax payer's money to move our nation forward from agriculture to technology. Currently scientists are working overtime to find treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19. This is not a game. The body count mirroring the ineptness of Washington is adding up. 5M today infected with COVID-19 and the death count at 162,000. Much of this can be laid at the feet of an inept White House and a tepid Congress.
But, our elected leaders play at it like it is a game. Single parents, two parent households, teachers around this nation and front line medical and first responders are working their best to move us forward during this time. But, Congress cannot play well together. Congress cannot work together. Congressmen and Congresswomen, Senators cannot see further than their party line so each day,moms and dads wake up with bank accounts on empty, small businesses shuttered without any significant rescue, mortgages need to be paid, rent needs to be paid, and Congressmen and Congresswomen cannot agree. This is not sandlot baseball. This is real life which is crushing real people.
In my life, I have lived through one shining moment(if you will) of national unity and that was after 9/11 and Americans were slapped in the face with the reality that enemies wish us harm, but together we are the strongest nation in the world. It seems now only to be a moment in time. A fleeting moment.
I wonder what we need to happen to take us to the point and place where we see in each other more than just people, but rather, neighbors who together wish life and health and security for this nation of which we are a part?
Historically, as a nation, we have been willing to put our shoulders together, push and pull together in order to move the freedoms and security of this nation more toward what our founders --not completely understanding-- the life and liberty enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights waiting sometimes impatiently to be fully realized.
I would suggest that if our representatives both House and Senate are not up to the challenge of working together for all Americans, right now, in this time of national distress, please, please go home and let us find someone else who can shoulder the task.
Wash your hands, wear your masks in consideration for others, mind the gap and be kind.
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