Rare News Desk
By many accounts, Washington is going to hell in a hand basket. There’s a reason why 60 percent of Americans say they would replace every member of Congress. That’s a record high. There’s a reason why Americans’ satisfaction with the way our nation is being governed is at 18 percent. That’s a record low. And there’s a reason why one-third of Americans believe we need a third major political party. By the way, that’s also a record high.
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Washington is breaking records all around, and not in a good way.
A combination of seven things in Washington led us to this breaking point of disgust. It’s bad enough to endure one sin, but the succession of these seven feel impossible to stomach.
Hence, the records. Hence, the talk of hell.
1. The Perversion of Power
Newsflash: Our laws and our Constitution are not on the al la carte menu. Selective enforcement has led to the abuse of power, the picking of winners and losers and the advancement of Washington’s priorities at the expense of our founding principles.
From picking which parts of Obamacare to implement, to re-writing bankruptcy laws in the auto bailout, from selective enforcement of laws like DOMA, to legislating through executive order, from making illegal National Labor Relation Board recess appointments, not to mention failing to pass a budget for years – Washington seems to view the Constitution as a formality that gets in the way of their ideological agenda, rather than the law of the land.
If we continue to allow the ruling class to behave this way, it’s only a matter of time before the offenses become more egregious. The point when we say “enough” should be now.
2. Desperate Resistance to Change
They say that change is a good thing, but apparently that doesn’t apply in Washington. Anything that challenges the status quo even slightly is demonized with the full force of Washington’s jackboot. Dare you utter the words “Ted Cruz” to anyone in Washington – Democrat or Republican – and they shudder with anger and fear.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is a disruptor. In his short time in Washington, he has dared to challenge the tired, customary ways of Washington. Feelings of Ted Cruz’s politics aside, can we get a collective golf clap for someone finally breaking through the Washington logjam?
Ted Cruz is an agent of change in a place so desperate to cling to its bureaucratic ways.
3. The Forgotten Middle America
Speaking to Middle America – the 60 percent of Americans in the middle of the political spectrum – is critical to win any election, but Washington partisans have taken their bullhorns and turned them away from the center and toward their respective bases. The partisan shouting matches have subsequently alienated many Americans and have people in the middle looking at both parties with disgust. Hence the growing number of Americans who believe it is time for a third party.
Why is the country divided as Red or Blue America when so many live in the purple in-between? It doesn’t mean they don’t hold certain convictions. It doesn’t mean each side must water-down its core values. But don’t demonize voters if they don’t agree with you on all the issues. This alienates voters who fear being labeled and forced to justify certain beliefs they may not hold.
Speak directly, with clarity and conviction, to the forgotten Middle but do not hold such animosity if they aren’t a straight-ticket on all the issues.
4. The Dirtiest Word of All: Compromise
The problem with Washington is that they’ve been so resistant to compromise, a thing regular Americans do on a daily basis, that these negotiations have become larger. Suddenly, there’s more at stake.
These decisions have to be made. Washington has failed because it has forced us to make “big” compromises because of its petty inability to agree to smaller solutions along the way.
The words “terrorists,” “arsonists” or “anarchists” flow off the tongues of Washington lawmakers faster than the word “compromise.” They are hyper-sensitive to a political failure at the bargaining table, placing that above the hardships of your family around your own kitchen table.
Each side’s unwillingness to concede has left Americans wondering what any of them are good for anymore.
5. No Budget, Big Problems
Washington’s inability to pass a budget is absurd. While Americans are all tightening their belts and counting every penny, Congress hasn’t fulfilled its Constitutional duty of passing a budget.
Instead, Washington continues to borrow, spend, tax and spend some more. The figures are mind-blowing: a trillion dollar deficit during Obama’s first term, nearly $17 trillion in national debt, and 45 percent of federal spending now spent on just three major entitlement programs.
Anyone who thinks the budget isn’t an issue is deluding himself. Democrats want to increase spending and Republicans fail to articulate why this is a problem and emphasize the magic bullet: growing the economy.
6. Scandalpalooza
Trust, confidence, credibility: These three words have truly been tested over the last few months.
If one scandal weren’t bad enough, the current government is plagued with many: Benghazi, the IRS targeting conservatives, the NSA, the DOJ targeting journalists. You can add the rollout of ObamaCare to the list of this administration’s incompetencies.
It’s no wonder that people are disgusted when every day they turn on the news and hear the latest in a scandal swirling around the halls of Washington.
7. They’ve Forgotten Who They Work For
Perhaps the biggest sin of Washington is that lawmakers have forgotten who they work for.
Washington represents us, “we, the people.” Yet, they haven’t been held to the fire and they have subsequently gotten away with shenanigans. We allowed them to become complacent.
Ted Cruz’s 21-hour Obamacare “filibuster,” wasn’t really about Obamacare – it was about making DC listen.
It’s time to remind them who is boss. It’s time to remind our representatives that it is the people they serve, not their own personal self interest, or those of lobbyists and the media. They answer to the American people.
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These sins we’ve endured for some time now can no longer be tolerated. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me seven times — time to shake things up!
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