NPR March 25, 2020 : 8:21 AM ET
This is how our government was designed to work.
As they worked to draft a Constitution for the United States, the Founding Fathers had to reconcile the concerns of members with diametrically opposed opinions and positions. Their genius was to recognize that any legislative body might create for a democratic republic would face similar obstacles when drafting laws on almost any issue. Their solution was to create a process designed to force opponents to compromise in order for legislation on controversial issues to pass.
The plan was predicated on the belief that elected representatives to the bicameral Congress they created would be reasonable people who would negotiate and compromise in good faith as they had attempted to do in drafting The Constitution.
For over thirty years, one of our political parties has turned a blind eye to the vision of the Founding Fathers and adopted a one-party, my-way-or-the-highway approach to political action. It has used power and greed effectively trump (pun intended) reason and compromise in our government. The result has been legislative gridlock, a politically stacked Supreme Court, and the election of a totally unqualified person to the presidency.
Such was the hapless state of politics in America until an invisible virus became a wild card in what appeared to be a winning hand for those seeking a perpetual one-party government.
Americans can, and have been, brainwashed, misled, lied to, guilt-tripped, emotionally and religiously threatened, and legally marginalized by "leaders" claiming power granted to them from a higher authority.
Those tactics don't work on viruses.
The genuine threat to the lives of a significant portion of the population of the nation - indeed, of the world - has forced members of both houses of Congress of all political positions to once again bargain and compromise in good faith. It is my hope that the lesson taught by the coronavirus incursion will serve to immunize the body politic against future assaults by unbridled power and greed.
The plan was predicated on the belief that elected representatives to the bicameral Congress they created would be reasonable people who would negotiate and compromise in good faith as they had attempted to do in drafting The Constitution.
For over thirty years, one of our political parties has turned a blind eye to the vision of the Founding Fathers and adopted a one-party, my-way-or-the-highway approach to political action. It has used power and greed effectively trump (pun intended) reason and compromise in our government. The result has been legislative gridlock, a politically stacked Supreme Court, and the election of a totally unqualified person to the presidency.
Such was the hapless state of politics in America until an invisible virus became a wild card in what appeared to be a winning hand for those seeking a perpetual one-party government.
Americans can, and have been, brainwashed, misled, lied to, guilt-tripped, emotionally and religiously threatened, and legally marginalized by "leaders" claiming power granted to them from a higher authority.
Those tactics don't work on viruses.
The genuine threat to the lives of a significant portion of the population of the nation - indeed, of the world - has forced members of both houses of Congress of all political positions to once again bargain and compromise in good faith. It is my hope that the lesson taught by the coronavirus incursion will serve to immunize the body politic against future assaults by unbridled power and greed.
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