As we enter what is being touted as a new era, I can only wonder what has fundamentally changed in the body politic? We have a Congress that is overwhelmingly Democratic, but filled with the same politician's who could find no way to compromise with the Executive these past eight years. We have a new President, who learned first hand the lessons of political compromise, or principle compromise, in pursuit of greater personal gain.
I am hopeful, along the way, he will remember his promise of service before personal gain, but if the senior leadership of the House and Senate, both sides of the aisle, are any indication we should not be expecting too rapid a move towards Camelot.
A couple of years ago a friend relayed a story with regards to individual expectations and perks of the office as expected by the leader of the House of Representatives. The story went to what I think of as the heart of a rhetoric versus substance with regard to service to our nation, and protecting the average citizen. I was told, and I choose to believe, that upon securing the senior position this congressperson identified to the USAF his/her requirements for executive transportation, on a weekly basis, back to his/her home. When told what the previous incumbent had used, a small executive jet like a Lear or Gulfstream, the new congressperson was quite adamant that would never do and he/she needed something with intercontinental range and the capacity to carry his/her entire entourage. Cost be damned, he/she deserved it and it would be provided or the AF could expect no support in upcoming budgets.
I hold this akin to the abuses of the former senior Senator of Alaska, who would hold authorization bills hostage until his pork barrel programs where inserted. Like the Ketchikan Alaska "Bridge to No Where." The fact he, or the senior Senator from WV, or MA, or ND or almost anywhere else see nothing wrong in this speaks volumes about how little they are concerned with national debt, or the national survival. I believe every Congressperson works towards their personal self-interest, what do they tell their district at reelection time about how much of the federal budget they were able to bring home. I doubt anyone was ever reelected for showing how much they saved their district in taxes by not approving some unneeded works project, or worthless studies like the study of hibernation problems with bats, or the potential for transexual flies (I am making this up, not suggesting a new field).
Ah well, it is easy to complain when they really don't care about your opinion, they just want your vote.
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