Recent polls reveal that 93 percent of the populace sees the country as being on the wrong track (Oct. 14 CBS/NY Times poll).
To find out whom we are to blame for the mess that we're in consult the polls again. According to a July Gallup poll the public's approval rating of Congress and the president is wallowing at 14 and 32 percent, respectively. How can a measly 536 people (435 Congressmen, 100 Senators and 1 president) stand in the way of the happiness and well being of over 300 million Americans?
To put the country back on track seems to be tantalizingly simple. Come Tuesday, via the only poll that actually counts, we should collectively throw the bums out. But if past electoral behavior is at all indicative, what we'll do instead is re-elect incumbents. In the 1998 election, 401 of the 435 House seats were returned to incumbents. That's a re-election rate of 98 percent That same year their Senate brethren fared almost as well with a nearly 90 percent re-election rate.
How does one account for this disconnect between the general dissatisfaction expressed by the electorate prior to elections and the way the electorate casts its vote for incumbents? Some lay the blame at the feet of special interest groups whose power and money somehow buy elections.
I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time that "Big Oil" or "Big Pharmaceutical" approached me and offered some kind of inducement to vote for incumbents. No, to the best of my knowledge, all of my trips to the voting booth have been remarkably free of threats, bribes or cajolery. Might it not be more accurate to conclude that the vacillation and reluctance of our elected officials to effectively tackle and address vital issues is most likely a reflection of an ambivalent, say-one-thing-and-do-another electorate?
Many want an energy policy that severs our dependence on foreign suppliers, reduces greenhouse emissions and eases inflationary pressure upon foodstuffs and other vital necessities. Yet we cling to our SUVs and clamor for more offshore drilling and continuation of federally subsidized ethanol production, actions that only perpetuate the existing dysfunctional energy system.
Many want to control runaway healthcare costs. Yet when employers, besieged by hefty annual insurance premium increases, want to impose surcharges upon the healthcare payroll deductions of those employees who are obese or who smoke we scream about unfair discrimination and meddling in our personal affairs.
We all say that we want a more secure retirement but rather than maximize our 401K contributions we use excess discretionary funds to renew luxury car leases every three years and to dine out twice a week.
We all say that we want our elected officials to bring about positive change, but let's face it, those expressions are nothing more than lip service. If we are truly committed to reform, and that's what positive change is, then we must also commit to the new behaviors that are required to bring those reforms to fruition.
Phil Graham may have been wrong when he referred to the recession as being imaginary. But he was right on the mark when he called us a nation of whiners. It's time for us to muster the strength and insight of Walt Kelly's cartoon character Pogo and acknowledge the truth that, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
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