Last night I listened to a series of man on the street interviews about the current infrastructure bill now in Congress. I wasn’t surprised that all those interviewed were opposed to the current infrastructure bill because it was a Fox station. What did surprise me was the venomous comments by two of those interviewed. One person being interviewed said that Biden must absolutely be stopped because the cost of the bill would destroy the country. Another said that we must prevent anything that the president wants done to save the country. The other three interviewed people were firmly against the infrastructural bill for what sounded like good sound ideological reasons, i.e., keep government spending down.
There is a disturbing thread for democracy running through what used to be called the Good Old Party. It starts at the top of those who are currently in the government. In the Senate, it is Mitch McConnell. He said on May 5, “100% of my focus is on stopping this new administration.” However, he said similar things about President Obama’s term in office. “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” I can understand a party out of power wanting to be back in power, but at what cost to our country?
We are not just Democrats or Republicans. We are first and foremost Americans! I remember fierce debates in both the House and Senate. Despite that fact, we would see them leaving the floor of both houses smiling and laughing together. There existed true friendships between those who held diametrically opposed viewpoints. Somehow, we lost those friendships. That loss came about for many reasons. One I remember, and thought was horrible was both house members and senators were disciplined by their party for their friendship with members of the opposite party. Why would a party discipline a member for their friendship with someone of the other party? We wouldn’t discipline someone for having a friend of another religion or race. It makes no sense. We must restore friendship in government.
