A Different Perspective

As this week begins our government remains shut down.  Washington D.C is in a full on political meltdown regarding Obamacare.  Much like Vietnam and Korea though, this conflict is a disguised proxy war.  

The current partisan fight is a really a small skirmish in a grand primal dispute over big ideas regarding government’s role and taxes.  In a down economy these issues become more important to the middle and lower classes.  The national shutdown has as much to do with healthcare as embargoing Cuba has to do with Havana; its on the wrong side of things but is not the core of the problem.  The issues seem intractable to us Americans, not because of their particular subject matter, but because of the insolent behavior of the politicians involved.  

No wonder that the current job approval rating of Congress, according to an Associated Press Poll ending last week, is at a historical low of:

 5%

5% is a solid interest on a used car, 5% of the population is very well off, 5% is the typical alcohol volume by weight of beer, 5% of the male population is under 5’4” tall, 5% - whichever light one casts it in – is not a good number of people to have liking you.  Because, it means something on the order of 95% of the people dislike you.

We’re disgusted with these people!  Strangely enough, outside of any especially appointed fill-ins, they theoretically all attained office through winning popularity contests.  This a strange irony that might require a couple of doctoral degrees to sort out:  shouldn’t they at least by likable?

I believe that our collective disgust comes from the failure of these high functioning adults (again….that qualifying word ‘theoretically’ comes to mind) to listen to another perspective.  This past week Israeli Ambassador Zion Evrony spent some time at Rockhurst as part of the Visiting Scholar Lecture Series.  He spoke to my Honors American Government class, along with Father Curran; and I had the honor of eating dinner with him before his talk to the community.  I had traveled to Israel this past summer and he was interested in what I thought of his country. 

The Ambassador’s traveled halfway around the world, leaving his usual diplomatic station in Rome, to visit our Kansas City campus.  After his talk, this kind and engaging man was willing to take questions from the large audience.  Some questions were good, but most were little more than thinly disguised, or even undisguised, political statements about the treatment of Palestinians or even Catholics at the hands of Israelis.  Ever the gentleman and the professional, the Ambassador answered all “questions” graciously. 

To me, it was a shame that what could have been a short dialogue was turned into a forum for tired polemics by those wishing to only speak and not listen. 

Until our elected officials learn the value of putting time into listening to the opposition they are like those protestors spouting off into the microphone: marginalizing themselves down to 5% (…maybe we can hit 3%, how low can it go!).   There are times and places for setting forth your opinion on the way the world should be.  Like, I don’t know… a blog.  Or say a political campaign or debate during an election; but not during a budget negotiation.  A dangerously divisive new political reality will be formed if they aren’t going to serve as more responsible elected representatives.