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Health & Fitness

Current political mess

Well, well, well, now. Time for a Grandpoa Pete observation. Or two. I deserve it -- I've lived a long time. First there were individuals living alone. They were called cavemen. Then they gathered together, but still acted alone. Finally they started cooperating in order to do things they couldn’t do alone. EUREKA! The first government was formed … for the good of the people. For the good of the people! As time went on, more people arrived, and more government. It went through phases: joint government by and for the people; government by the strongest, for the people; government by the strongest, for the strongest; ruling by the strongest. Then a funny thing happened. People decided they wanted a voice in their lives. Whoa! Novel concept. There followed a few centuries of turmoil bringing us to today. Of course I’m oversimplifying, but pure democracies are the least efficient (everyone must vote on everything) form of government. So, in this country we have a representative form of government. People have a say through choosing their representatives, and the representatives determine what is best for the country (and supposedly their constituents), and then NEGOTIATE the solution, cooperatively, which is best for the most. When I was growing up in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s we had a war economy. Then things calmed down and the economy got going. In the twentieth century many representatives compromised on important pieces of legislation then negotiated and passed them. No one liked everything. Some laws were great, some were good, and some were terrible. But progress was made. And the terrible laws worked for a while, sort of, and then were repaired or repealed. Now it’s the twenty first century. Negotiation appears to be gone. Cooperation is gone. “For the good of the people” is gone. Major pieces of legislation are, for the most part, gone. Representatives standing up for what they really believe is right (Profiles in Courage) is gone. You cannot convince me that all Republicans have exactly one set of identical beliefs and solutions, and all Democrats another. So, what do we have? Government by politics and public opinion polls. And BIG dollars to influence politics. And arm twisting. And personalities. And, yes, still racism and personal gain. That’s not negotiating or cooperating – it’s political blackmail! We have today two positions – nominally Republican and Democrat (forget Tea Party for the moment. These two parties take a position on all questions, big and small. Note – it’s the party position, not the representative’s. They have to vote the party line or lose the party support (and funding, committee positions, chairmanships and prestige). Now the economy. It seems to be getting better. Really. Slowly, but really. In order for it to continue to improve we must have a budget and, probably, the debt ceiling raised again. Great time for negotiation and cooperation, right? Wrong! NO ONE can get everything they want or (giving them the benefit of the doubt) everything they believe in. But we must have SOMETHING to continue the upturn. You can tune it, or fix it, later. Just like you can tune or fix Obamacare later. But good grief, do something. Pass some legislation. Pass a budget, even if you don’t like it all. If necessary raise the debt limit. And don’t tie the issues together -- that’s doomed to fail, and that’s neither right nor true politics. The American people are not as stupid, lethargic, non-caring and lazy as you think. If you continue to lock up Congress, avoid compromise, and refuse to negotiate positively, voting strictly party lines, then you can be positive that your constituents will try another set of representatives. I will. In fact, if you don’t pass a budget without government shutdown and don’t raise the debt ceiling to make it work for the time being, and if you keep holding up appointments for political leverage, I PROMISE you I will vote against you, get my friends to vote against you, and campaign as hard as I can against you. I almost don’t care who will run against you if they honestly run on a platform of bipartisan cooperation, negotiation, and progress in all major areas. I will vote for them. Peter (Grandpa Pete) Smith,Canton, GA, aged 72. I can be reached at 678-880-0880 home and 678-699-2814 cell in Canton. Please do not publish my

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