So here we are in 2010, with some new members in Congress and a new President.
It is evident that the faces have changed, but the same old agendas and false promises have continued. The “I promise to do this” or the “This will change” sounds great to our ears at first. It later becomes disheartening and frustrating, when you realize that you were just told this so that X candidate can hold office and pursue his or her own agenda.
Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty. Not only do both parties do this, they also preach bipartisanship, which almost never happens with any bill or law that gets put forward. Granted that debate leads to a stronger outcome, the stronger outcome is never reached because it tends to be not so much a debate, but the will of one party forcing the other party to join along.Hearing the word “bipartisanship” used a speech gets old fast.
This trend has been going on for some time now. It seems that all we truly receive are false hopes and promises that never get fulfilled. Nobody is perfect as we are all human. However, don’t say you’re going to cut taxes and then turn around and raise them. Many politicians will campaign on specific platforms and then go against it once they obtain the office. We don’t even need to look at the federal office because it is very prevalent in our own state of New York. The misconception and disillusionment is astonishing as well as insulting. It is astonishing in the fact that it is able to continue to happen, insulting in the fact that many politicians feel the people are too dull to understand this.
I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way. I want to see more members in office live by the simple motto of “practice what you preach.” It is our obligation to hold our politicians accountable on their promises, so that they can live on this motto.
This brings up another good point. Why aren’t we holding our officials accountable for mistakes they have made?
It seems that each and every time something goes wrong, they get a free pass on a mistake. I feel that they can do the exact opposite of what they have promised and still get elected to another term in office, to continue with their agenda. In every other job in our society, if you’re doing a poor job, fail to meet deadlines and outright lie, you will be fired almost immediately from your job and then have to go find a new one. Why doesn’t our political system work this way?
What can be done to keep our elected officials in check and to keep them honest is to make sure that nobody is safe and will automatically win because of their district, affiliation, etc. They should always be on the hot seat, with the citizens ready to vote them out for dishonesty, corruption or poor leadership. We shouldn’t have to tolerate things like this. It should be second nature that if we don’t see results, we give the next guy in line a chance. That’s one of the best things about our nation. There is no monarchy where a person passes the office down to their blood relatives. At times, however, the government seems to operate like this, taking actions absolutely against our principals.
Come November, it is our duty as citizens to look around and make a judgment for ourselves as to how well of a job our officials are doing and if they stuck to their promises. If they did, they should be given the opportunity to continue their jobs within term limits. If they are doing poorly or continued with the trend of the same old, they should be kicked out and somebody else should be given a chance. Granted, no one system is perfect. However, our country’s system is very unique and it should be taken care of and not abused. Just imagine, if we held our politicians accountable for their actions, both good and bad, how much better the system as a whole would function. No two people will have the same views, but we all can agree that we are tired of the new faces singing the same tune.
-Robert J. Wranovics
