Reason #11: Government by Anesthesia
The worst part about the rigged seniority system is that it discourages long term thinking. Our politicians are so obsessed with raising cash so they can win their next election and move up the seniority ladder, they do the bidding of their biggest contributors instead of looking out for the people they actually work for-us. And the contributors with the deepest pockets are almost always the same ones who oppose desperately needed reforms.
Look at any of the major crises facing this country right now and you’ll find a big interest group bankrolling opposition to the radical change we need. The oil companies spend their record profits defeating energy conservation initiatives. Wall Street kills attempts to regulate the financial markets. Defense contractors pay to keep Congress voting for wasteful and unnecessary weapons programs. You name the issue and there’s a major campaign donor dangling fat checks to our leaders to keep them from solving it. Make no mistake, the solutions to our problems are there. They exist. And, often, they’re a hell of a lot more straightforward than you’d think. All that’s lacking is the political will to make the tough decisions.
The solutions to our problems are there. They exist. And, often, they’re a hell of a lot more straightforward than you’d think. All that’s lacking is the political will to make the tough decisions.
So, rather than grappling with the hard issues, our leaders fill their agendas with fluff and minutiae. They rail against the evils of abortion, equating it to murder. They barnstorm the country trying to pass a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. Meanwhile, China buys another billion dollars of our debt, and the official savings rate for American citizens dips even further below zero percent. In other words, while our ship of state is sinking, these nincompoops are pacing the decks, arguing over what kind of rum the crew should be allowed to drink!
If someone came to America for the first time and studied our society and government, like Alexis de Toqueville did in the 1830s, I think they would be amazed at how much time our leaders waste on empty rhetoric and purely symbolic arguments. In June of 2006, while the Iraq War was raging, and sucking billions of dollars a month from our treasury, Congress suddenly stopped everything and spent days debating a constitutional amendment to outlaw flag burning. In 2004, just as the Abu Ghraib photographs were emerging and people were starting to realize that Iraqis weren’t “greeting us as liberators,” President Bush and other social conservatives whipped up a national frenzy over gay marriage. And for over 30 years now, the country has been ripped in half over the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision. All of the passion and energy we expend over these fights keeps us from facing the problems eating away at the very heart of our country.
Discipline and denial, the concepts crucial to repairing our damaged economy, are not popular, they’re painful. People don’t want to hear about saving money or delaying their next purchase. And politicians know that asking Americans to sacrifice material comforts would be career suicide. So they churn the waters of bigotry and fear instead, whipping up the same cultural feeding frenzies. And we take the bait every time.
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