Red and Blue Monkeys

Most people get an uneasy feeling in their stomachs when the topic of politics comes up. It is a subject and a profession that we have grown to dislike. I’m one to say because my position in my community on the Town Council may be considered as political by some of you.

One thing to note for the record is that by our by-laws prohibit us to use a political ideology or promote any political agenda in the operation of our positions on the Council. We must remain bi-partisan in serving our duties in the community. In essence we must be about doing the community’s business, not promoting a political ideology.

That aside for the moment, what is the reason why so many people dislike politicians or politics in general? Why are we so divided in clear-cut lines in reference to our political landscape? Were we born with blue or red blood as democrats or republicans? Do we have some sort of perversion to be one way or another that is natural? Absolutely not!

It is almost as though a person could be bleeding in the middle of the street and before we could help them we would have to first figure out if they were a republican or a democrat before we would be able to help them because only certain people can help people of like persuasions. When did we stop being human first?

Is it that necessary for us to stand behind such clear lines of political ideology? Is it to our benefit that we allow this to continue? Shouldn’t we tell those of whom we have elected to serve us that we want them to serve the needs of the people and not the needs of any particular party? This political divide has grown far enough!

In the last national election everybody was so upset that they threw out the last political party because things were so bad and we needed a scapegoat to place the blame. Guess what! In the coming election everyone is so disgusted at how things are going that they are considering switching back to the party they voted out.

Has it occurred to us that until you fix the real problem no political party can magically make things work? Without joining forces and sharing ideas in a bipartisan manner nothing will get fixed, yet those very smart people that we place in office go to Washington thinking they are somehow endorsed by us to be red or blue monkeys. Forgive me, but that is how they look and act.

Here is the kicker. While all this political posturing and wrangling is happening by our elected officials people are dying without health benefits, they are loosing their homes because they can’t find a job, they are sending their kids to bed hungry because they don’t have the money to buy food, and they are just trying to hold on during this financial storm hoping our elected officials will do something to get them out of their desperation.

Yet, what are we witnessing our politicians doing? They are having cat and dogfights about which party is wrong and hurting the America, while people are literally dying in the streets across America. Hasn’t this political divide gone far enough?

No offense to any political party in particular, or yes to both, but you cannot hold the country hostage and create change that they people can appreciate. You cannot play the game of chicken and dare the others to blink first. You cannot hold on to your political ideology at the expense of the people. Creating another sub-party on the far left or far right will not help put out the fire but only give it more divisive fuel to burn.

You often hear politicians state that the American people want them, the politicians, to do this or that. They claim to be doing what the people want, yet people are still bleeding in the streets while they are arguing about what to do with the people bleeding in the street rather than simply helping them.

The first fix is for politicians to work together and stop blaming the other party for what is wrong with this country. Together we stand and most certainly divided we fall. We have been in a freefall for a long time now and shall continue falling fast until those blue and red monkeys stop arguing about who is at fault while people are still dying in the streets.

It is time for the people to come together and demand that our elected officials work together as a political leadership group in order to solve our problems. Our mandate to them is to first come together in unity and not in division. After they learn to come together then we can teach them a few new tricks like actually fixing the country’s problems.

When we hear them playing the blame-game we will know they are not the ones who are ready to fix our problems. They will be just want-to-be replacements for the blue and red monkeys that we already have.

We must insist that their first assignment when they go to Washington is to join forces with someone across the aisle and start coming up with solutions to create the change we can believe in.  America has seen enough of those monkeys parading around acting as though they are fixing our problems and claiming to be speaking for the will of the people. Give me a break!