A House Divided

11-15-2022

A House Divided

I have purposefully kept myself quarantined from election news in hopes that this nightmare would end and common sense would return to American politics. Fat chance you say!

I did watch a television broadcast where a congressional GOP representative cited off a list of “objectives” that would begin on day one after the GOP Speaker of the House takes the gavel. I didn’t write down what he was saying, yet one single most “objective” I would like to see from both chambers of Congress can be summed up in one word – ACCOUNTABILITY, the accountability of those who misuse their elected office for financial and political gain. Even the appearance of political corruption tarnishes the entire legislative body.

Since the days of Nixon in the White House congress has factionalized – fragmented the legislative body to the point that they have openly circumvented or ignored the constitutionality of the Constitution of the United States. No longer is the “rule of law” held as the measure of right and wrong in our nation.

In his Emancipation Proclamation speech Abraham Lincoln quoted the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:25 ESV “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” That very thing appears to have happened in the halls of congress.

Newly elected members of congress during their indoctrination phase and after their swearing in ceremony are given the “rules” by congressional leadership and I’ve heard rumors that infractions have been dealt with harshly. In the past there were rules in place that forced compromises across the aisle in order to get bills written, passed and submitted to the president for signing into law. Over time many of those rules were scrubbed and there was no longer a need for partisan compromising. In recent years newly elected legislators who did not “toe the line” were stripped of their committee assignments and became outsiders.

I would like to see a major overhaul of the inner workings of the legislative body so that power cannot remain in the hands of a single individual or group of individuals while excluding those whom WE THE PEOPLE have sent to Washington to do our bidding. Start by dissolving congressional caucuses and committees and getting all 435 members of the House and all 100 members of the Senate back on the same PUBLIC SERVICE page. They work for us and should never feel they are superior to their constituents – the American people. I have watched as elected officials have had the audacity to break a number of federal laws, when they could just as easily have re-written to fix errors or to make better for our nation. Until congress gets their collective house in order (legislatively speaking) how in the world can we expect them to take care of our collective house – The United States of America?

Voters have a vital role in this process and voting against someone is NOT the same as voting for someone. Make you vote count! –

RTM