“America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere,” Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator, proclaimed on Election Eve, Nov. 3, 1980, in his acclaimed “A Vision for America” address.
However, as we have painfully learned over the past week, it seems that our country is run by petulant children who couldn’t care less about America as the ultimate example of progress, righteousness, and decency that every other country strives to be.
We find ourselves in the middle of another government shutdown. Yet, as the hours of inaction seem to pile up, all we hear about is who is to blame for the shutdown. Both sides have sought to brand this lesson in incompetence as the other guy’s fault: On one side of the chasm, you have Democratic leaders who have dubbed it the Trump Shutdown; while our Commander in Chief has sporadically referenced a Democrat Shutdown on Twitter.
Instead of assigning blame, or digging in heels, or looking to pundits and talking heads and their nonsensical scoreboards trying desperately to determine which side is the political winner so far and prognosticate about who will emerge victorious at the end—however far away the finish line seems to be—how about they focus on the losers: the American people.
The past seven days have been a ridiculous game of one-upsmanship via official statements and the verbal excrement that passes for Twitter posts.
“Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. But instead of honoring his responsibility to the American people, President Trump threw a temper tantrum and convinced House Republicans to push our nation into a destructive Trump Shutdown in the middle of the holiday season. President Trump has said more than 25 times that he wanted a shutdown and now he has gotten what he wanted,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi.
“The Democrats, whose votes we need in the Senate, will probably vote against Border Security and the Wall even though they know it is DESPERATELY NEEDED. If the Dems vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time. People don’t want Open Borders and Crime!” President Trump tweeted on Friday.
“The government is shut down for one reason: the President’s insistence on a border wall that is an affront to our values and that will not make us safer. It’s time for Republicans in Congress and the President do their job and pass a funding bill that will keep our government running. The thousands of federal employees and their families who call New York City home should not be pawns for Donald Trump’s backwards immigration policies,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement issued on Saturday.
There are so many more statements and posts that we could site here but just don’t have the space (or stomach) to accommodate them. But you get the point: These childish tit-for-tat games and name-calling gets us—yes, US—nowhere fast and for a long time.
We voted you guys into your cushy, well-paid gigs. Enough with the statements and posts. You’re pillaging the city upon a hill. And its people—you remember them, right?—are the ones left holding the bill.
