A Reflection Of You & Me

Tuesday's election in US wrapped up what has become ever increasingly ugly campaign seasons.  Living overseas I was fortunate enough to miss all of the phone calls (the Vonage line had been temporarily disconnected for this very reason), campaign ads, unsolicited mailings and even doorstep visits by campaign workers eager to see their candidate get elected. I heard about it though. And with the fierce stalemate that has been the status quo in DC recently, combined with millions of dollars spent on a mid-term election, I can only imagine how truly painful it must have been regardless of which side of the aisle or color you stand behind. And now the people have spoken by way of their votes and that is really what living in a democratic society is all about. Right????

This recent election has the Republican Party sweeping the House and the Senate as well as many governorships. While the country is clearly divided on which strategy lays the best path for the future of our country, the voters have spoken. (One could argue that low voter turnout in some areas accounts for the final results but my challenge to them would be that those people who felt the strongest about the issues came out and cast their vote). And judging by my Facebook page these past few days it would appear that I have slightly more friends who are dismayed by the outcome of the elections than those who are rejoicing but the margin is quite close. (I have to admit that over the past few months I have enjoyed the varied and polar opposite opinion pieces that my friends have been posting. While I don't always agree with what they post, their varying opinions have certainly made me think about my own stances). As with any election there are winners and losers, people who are happy with the outcomes and those who are distraught.

A democratic government is one of the people by the people. So it stands to reason that in a country as clearly diverse and divided as our own, certain parts of the country are more apt to elect more conservative (or liberal) politicians than others. The state of Kentucky and their long term, re-elected Senator Mitch McConnell, is a prime example. Many people inside the Beltway despise the man, his politics and his practices but obviously the people of Kentucky find something they like about him because they repeatedly re-elect him. Historically we have tendencies to elect people who "look" like ourselves so who are the people of West Coast to say otherwise?  The same could be said about Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (who was not up for re-election this year). It is seriously doubtful that Texas voters would elect her as their representative yet those in Massachusetts like her just fine. Isn't that what a democracy is all about?

I'm not saying that everything is all fine and dandy with our electoral process or politics in general, but what we have today is the product of what we the people have allowed to happen. I whole heartedly thing that ever single American who is eligible to vote should do so in each and every election. By not voting you are saying that the issues just don't matter to you. People should also cast educated votes which, amidst all of the propaganda and political fighting can be quite difficult at times. However, voting for the candidate solely because they attended your neighborhood cookout (as one Washington D.C. did) is in my opinion, not an educated decision. (I saw this type of voting happening regularly when I worked for the City of Norfolk, VA. There local officials would attend and host community events to garner votes then all but disappear after they were elected until the next campaign season came around when the voters would once again re-elect them. And so the cycle continued).

And because we are a democracy, if we don't like what we see happening in our political system, each and every one of us needs to do our part to change it. We can sit back and complain about our discontent with the system and the people we elected or we can become actively involved in it. So many people have been expressing their disgust with everyone in Washington but some politicians are getting re-elected meaning that not everyone feels that way. Perhaps those who feel like they are on the "winning" side in this election can sit back and watch their candidates go to work. But for anyone who is unhappy to with these election results, they need to get to work immediately. So if you don't like it, do something about it. Not in four years, two years or even one year. The time is now. Because this is a democracy and despite its ugliness and contention at time, I still believe the process works. The majority of the people have spoken. If you want to be part of the majority next time around, the ball is in your court.

Stress Factor

Stress.  As in "I am so stressed". The phrase has become so commonplace in conversations that I sometimes wonder whether it has lost its true meaning. Or whether it has become such a catch phrase that people don't stop and think about what it really means. But recently two separate articles discussing the causes of stress caught my eye and now I find myself thinking at of course we are stressed as a country and a society. I mean, given all that is going on around us, how can we not be?

First, a The Washington Post article cited a Robert Wood Johnson Foundations study that found politicians to be the number one factor in causing stress in our daily lives. Eighty-six percent of surveyed Americans indicated that they had experienced stress in the past month with 26 % saying those stress levels had been extreme. While major health issues were the largest contributor of longer term high levels of stress, issues surrounding everyday life were attributed to smaller daily stressors. Americans said that "hearing about what the government or politicians are doing"increased their stress levels more than dealing with long commutes, juggling the work-life balance and dealing with family dynamics. Hence the negative influence of our elected officials. And with the ongoing stalemate punctuated by vicious verbal attacks and other juvenile behavior in Washington, it really is no wonder. What we are watching looks like bad reality television. But when these issues-- the economy, immigration reform, religious freedoms, access to health care and global warming-- directly impact individual lives yet are treated like pawns in an ugly game, it is all too real. So it is no surprise that as a society we are so stressed. I know I am, are you?

And speaking about hearing and watching the politics play out on televisions, a NPR piece discussed the same study, focusing on the impact watching, reading or listening to the news has on our stress levels. Open a newspaper or turn on the news and it is filled with bad news. Foiled terrorist attacks, domestic disputes turned deadly and the recent horrific spate of parents leaving their young children in hot cars fill the airwaves and these are just the domestic news articles. And when an event is particularly horrifying, the media provides continual coverage of the event. If there is nothing new to report they replay the footage or bring in "experts" who not only speculate on the event at hand but link it to past atrocities. One only as to think about the events surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks or the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building to realize how true this year. Years after the event these images are still burned into my mind. But despite, or perhaps because, of the scale of these tragedies, people are watching. The above cited study found that "people who exposed themselves to six or more hours of media daily reported more acute stress symptoms than did people who were directly exposed" to the actual events. So we no longer need to actually experience the event in person in order to suffer the effects of its aftermath. Are we on the verge of becoming a country where everyone suffers from PTSD?

So who is to blame for all of this and what should we do? Do we elect new representatives with the hope that they can actually work together to solve our never ending list of problems? Do we turn everything off and simply unplug from current events? Do we run to our doctors requesting drugs to dull the side effects of our society? Sign up for yoga classes or live on media free communes that are cut off from the world? I have no idea what the solution is but something has to give. And soon....

Politics As Usual?

Yesterday, in a rare moment of solitude I did something I've only done a handful of times since we've been in Albania:  I turned on the television in the middle of the afternoon.  Thanks to AFN, we have a limited ten channels of American television to choose from, which once you weed out the multiple soap operas (I didn't even realize that they still existed), the family channel broadcasting shows whose "family" status I question, and the program guide channel, left me with a choice between news and news.  I opted for watching the news.  Having narrowly "dodged" the fiscal cliff for the moment, both news channels were broadcasting live coverage of the new 113th Congress being sworn it.  As I watched old white man after even older white man (despite a record number of women and minorities being recently elected) parade to the staging area for their swearing in photo op, I found myself zoning out the prattling of the commentators and thinking about the structure of the American political system in general.

America's democratic form of government is one that is envied and often replicated (or attempted to be replicated) by countries across the globe.  Our democratic system allows us as voters to elect our representatives who in turn are supposed to advocate for and represent our interests in Congress.  When working well, it is a truly dynamic and incredible way of running a government.  When it isn't working efficiently, however, we are left with a stagnant mess where no one's interests are being met.  And unfortunately, the later has been more the case lately.  I think it has taken my living overseas, in a country with an "emerging democracy" for me to truly see how dysfunctional our own government is at the moment.

The last Congress, the 112th, was reportedly the least productive in recent history (since 1947 anyway) in terms of enacting new legislation.  Partisanship has become so rampant that, whether by principle or pure stubbornness, neither party has been willing to reach across the aisle in order to move things forward.  In fact, some elected officials boasted about their unwillingness to work with members of the other party.  (I bet these same people never played nice on the playground as kids).  Last month's down to the wire fiscal cliff is a prime example of the behavior and lack of actions that have driven most of the past political year.  As the country dangled over the edge of the fiscal cliff, Congressmen and women from both parties publicly bemoaned that they weren't happy with the emerging outcomes since they had been forced to give up issues of importance to them.  That is what compromise is all about.  Everyone gives a little to achieve the best possible outcome.  (I am NOT commenting on the merits of the final bill; that is a conversation for a future blog post).  

So my question is this:  Is Congress truly reflective of the United States?  Yes, with both men and women, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, and Asians; and Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists, like American itself, this congressional body has become more diverse.  There are liberals intermingled with conservatives, people in the middle of the road and Tea Partiers (what exactly do all of these labels really mean anyway?).  What disturbs me the most, however, is how proudly partisan everyone seems to have become.   I worry that this indeed is also reflective of America as a whole.  Are we really that unwilling or unable to compromise.  Can we really not see the other side of the issue and be willing to accept others whose values and beliefs differ from ours?  If we can't do this and work together on all fronts, is our democracy really that more developed than those of "emerging democracies" around the world?  Or do we just produce better sound bites?  

I want to remain optimistic that the 113th Congress will be more productive than the 112th.  I hope that they can hear each other and work together to achieve results that really put the interests of the United States first.  Or maybe at this point I just want to see any results....  I am proud of America's democratic history and I can only hope that in the coming year(s) we will be a good example of what functioning democracies should look like.