Dear Editor,

The Problem with Politics today… The consensus is that ‘Washington is Broken’ and people point their fingers at many different factors that have contributed to the decline, social media, News Media, Career Politicians, etc.

The simple truth is that the real problem is We the People.

As a Representative Democracy, We the People are empowered to vote and select those who will represent us.

We wield the true power by the choices we make in the ballot box.

We continue to wield that power with our feedback to those representatives.

We keep re-electing them which makes them Career Politicians.

We give raucous cheers to representatives who are disrespectful to each other rather than demanding they be civil and work for the common good.  Then we wonder why respect for authority is spiraling downward.

We applaud our representatives who stonewall the other party rather than pushing them to compromise (yes, I used that horrible word) on solutions that make sense.  We know from our lives that this behavior is self-destructive.

We are apparently fine with the fact that our representatives spend countless hours conducting pointless investigations into each other and the other party rather than demanding they focus on legislation.  They certainly should conduct appropriate and necessary oversight, but most of these hearings are useless grandstanding.

We tear into every single fault of a member of the other party while ignoring Grand Canyon size problems within our own party.  Blatantly ignoring our own issues will only result in cementing our demise.

We bury our heads in one sided News Media whose only purpose is to enrage and inflame, rather than educate and inform.  We return over and over for the newest egregious headline – “Breaking News – The other side sucks”, which drives up their ratings.  We allow ourselves to make them rich.

We trust the most untrustworthy of sources for news.  Social Media in all its forms is anything but trustworthy, yet most of us treat it as a primary source of news.  We do not take the time to read/explore all sides of a story. We let the first story that fits our biased narrative become the ‘truth’.

We are no longer happy posting signs in support of our candidate in our yards.  Now we put out signs and hoist flags blatantly attacking the opponent, sometimes in the most vulgar of terms.  If we cannot be civil then why would we ever expect those that represent us to do the same?

We buy into the view that the other party ‘hates’ our America and is out to get us. Members of the other party are nothing more than, family, coworkers, friends, parishioners, neighbors, etc.  All of whom love our Country, but none of them ‘hate’ you.  We simple have a difference of opinion.

In short, ‘We the People’ bear the burden for the current state of our political system.  Until We demand better of ourselves and those that represent us, We will continue to get the dysfunctional government We deserve regardless which Party is in power.

Sincerely,

Chuck Rawlins