We Are Responsible, Too

To the Editor:
I’ve been convinced for some time that a dangerous ailment of the federal government is the absence of statesmen: those politicians capable of putting the health of nation before political and personal ambition. I used to think they were a vanishing breed but lately I wonder if they are indeed extinct.
The Founders weren’t naïve. They recognized the seductive nature of power and built checks and balances into our system of government, e.g., separation of powers. I expect they wouldn’t find gridlock a problem if the political butting of heads forced good faith negotiation between opposing forces leading to compromise. It seems “good faith” was a key element in the Founders’ remarkable vision. Perhaps that’s what Franklin meant when he commented on the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, “We have given you a republic, if you can keep it.”
Today, good faith seems to be an orphan, thus compromise doesn’t happen. The president chooses to go it alone through executive action while the congress seems impotent to exercise its constitutional powers or have enough bipartisan clout to challenge a White House veto, because more choose to vote the party line rather than act collectively as truly the peoples’ representatives with the good of the nation, not party, paramount.
But lets us not dump all the responsibility on the White House and Congress. We voters are responsible as well. It is said people vote their pocketbooks: our basic concern is for things that affect our daily lives and the ability to make ends meet. That’s likely very true. We also vote based on a spectrum of other things dear to us, from environmental issues and energy policy to abortion and gay marriage. Though we could wish our elected representatives in Washington would act with the nation foremost in their minds, I must also ask what motivates us to vote for a candidate? Are we even giving thought to what may be best for the nation or are we focused only on what’s good for us personally? I suspect it is mostly the latter and perhaps unrealistic to expect it to be otherwise.
The problem with this natural but narrow focus is it allows us to be manipulated and pandered to by politicians whose priorities don’t include what’s best for the nation, though they may make it appear so. We are responsible for them being in office.
I wonder how often, when we vote, we think beyond our personal daily lives and about the prosperity of the nation and it’s security which underpins all we know and have in this remarkable country. Do we send a message to politicians that while we don’t expect agreement on all things, we do expect good-faith negotiation and compromise with the nation’s well-being first on their list of priorities. Or do we send a message that says push our hot buttons and tell us what government can do for us, surrendering more and more of our own responsibility, ceding it to the government with it’s burgeoning regulatory and social-justice largess?
We need to think about this before our next visit to the polling booth. It will take time, but the message I would like to send is: start bargaining in good faith, setting political priorities aside in favor of a stronger, more prosperous U.S. or find another line of work!