Who is to Blame?

The government remains in shutdown mode. Impressive, isn’t it? The politicians elected to lead this country cannot figure out how to do their job, resulting in another version of American chaos.

It is troubling to think we find ourselves here again. But to me, the fact they can’t do their jobs isn’t the most appalling aspect. What bothers me most is that instead of doing the hard work, they spend all their time pointing at each other and saying the other side is to blame. In fact, their endgame isn’t to get a good outcome for us; their endgame is to win politically; to appeal to their base.

I don’t know about you, but I am sick of the incompetence that exists within our leadership — all of them. Not one party over the other. They are both embarrassing.

Picture a company running like this. It would be out of business, and no one would care that it is gone. As a capitalist economy, we reward success. Is there anything in our government that deserves to be rewarded? It is like raising a child; you never reward unacceptable behavior; if you do, you get more bad behavior.

It is easy to do what I just did. Blame politicians for this mess. It is easy because they deserve condemnation. But they are not alone. We, citizens of this country, are also to blame. We keep voting for this underwhelming lot. It is an example of the tried-and-true expression, ‘doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.’

Other than a failed college football coach who gets a buyout when they are fired, no job in the country is better than being a member of Congress. You get elected, spend most of your time sucking up to your base, get little done, and rarely face the axe when you get nothing done.

Frankly, I don’t know how they do it. Can you imagine being ineffective throughout your entire career? It takes a special person to fake it, day in and day out, knowing they are accomplishing little. And yet, the elected officials in Washington have mastered the art of getting nothing done.

You might think this isn’t all that important. After all, we are the greatest country in the world, and that will not change. Let’s explore that thought. Yes, we are the best in the world. But the world is changing. Up to this point, US greatness has been driven by the people who succeed every day at building elite companies, or innovative products. We are a country full of winners, led by a bunch of losers.

Eventually, that will catch up with us. Every organization needs strong leadership to stay on top. If it isn’t present, even the best organizations will falter. There is no way around that.

We have uncontrolled debt. A healthcare system that is out of control. A growing gap between the haves and have-nots — the wealth gap is massive. You may not think that is a problem. I would encourage you to look at history. In the world’s history, bad things happen to countries that have a large contingent of the population that has little future to hope for.

In the past, the legion of blue-collar workers and their families voted Democrat. That has changed in the last decade as they understood Democrats weren’t offering a solution that helped them. They turned to the Republicans, who promised answers. Imagine how pissed they are going to be when they figure out the Republican plans will not help them and will probably make things much worse. I am not being political; I am being realistic. Part of the problem the Republicans have right now getting us out of this mess if their big bill will be a disaster for half the country (I’m not talking about Democrats, I am talking about most Americans who struggle every month to get by).

This bill will hurt average Americans as it relates to access to healthcare. From the massive increase in insurance to the real threat rural hospitals will face; it will be hard for many to survive. And then what? The very people Republicans promised to serve will lose access to care. They know this is a problem, and so do the Democrats. That is why they are mucking around trying to gain political points by shutting down the government. Who does the shutdown hurt? Average Americans.

It is time Americans stopped being tribal and started being better at selecting leaders. We can’t expect the ones in Washington to do any better than they do. They are who they are. What we need is people who have one agenda: America’s world dominance to continue.

I am typically not a pessimist. I believe things will work out, because most of the time they do. Here, I have concluded that we need to take ownership of our country. If you vote only a straight ticket because you believe your side is always right. Maybe it is time you voted for the person who is most capable and willing to work for the country. If you don’t vote, shame on you.

In fact, there are more Americans who are independent than anything else. Except often they don’t vote. I get it. It is discouraging to go to the polls and look at the choices. The last presidential election required many people to hold their noses when they voted. Both choices were awful. And we are paying for it now.

There are great people in this country who could lead us. They are out there, but they are hesitant to put their names in the arena. Part of that is that many of them couldn’t get elected if they stayed true to their beliefs. I had lunch once with the governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin. He was the CEO of the Carlyle Group and was impressive. And then he decides he wants to be governor. Suddenly, he spouts off things that were stupid as hell and not reflective of who he was and what he believed. I am sure he thought, like many do, that if he got power, he could be himself and do the right things. Alas, he became like all of them. He decided power was more important than the best he could deliver.

That evolution will not change as long as voters reward that behavior. We need to seek, elect and support people who make the small minority unhappy because they don’t bend to its petty needs.

Guess what? The government will open at some point, and both sides will claim victory, and maybe among their base some will conclude they are right. This will be another opportunity for the politicians to claim they care as they prepare for their most important task, getting reelected.

They will claim victory, and once again we will all lose. It is time we woke up and stopped this madness. It is time we put America first. All of America. Not just the politicians and their small contingent of followers who woke up this morning eager to point a finger at the other side for this shutdown. I am done with them. I hope you are too.