Do you hear Aretha Franklin’s plaintive cry from 1967, when she belts out the haunting line “all I’m asking for is a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t”? We have been treated to an amazing spectacle the last several months, where our political leaders have engaged in the famous old game of baiting the bull. Seemingly they are saying, to one degree or another, its my way or the highway. Should you fail to acquiesce to my demands I shall and you fill the blank. We have borne witness to a total failure to appreciate the validity of another person’s perspective. When did we collectively lose respect for the other person’s point of view? If you watch an interview on television of an individual who has a differing perspective from the host, how many times would that person be interrupted? When you hear a political leader speaking, it seems that as often as not they have a set of talking points that they hammer on. We need to see an interaction - a conversation - built on respect. Can there two individuals who would on the surface publicly disagree with each other more than Joe Scarborough and Maxine Waters. The laundry list points of disagreement between the two of them would be seemingly endless. Yet the two of them are personal friends, I would suggest that the core of their relationship is respect. I have to wonder, given the spectacle of the past several months, can our political leaders say to themselves that they honestly respect the opinion of someone they disagree with. Could they walk they walk a mile in the other person’s shoes. Last year I had the opportunity to speak with a congressional staffer, for my Congressman. We where talking about when would a piece of legislation be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives. The individual could not or would not venture a guess. I was told that was solely in the hands of the Speaker of the House, at that time Nancy Pelosi. When I suggested that there should be some communication between their two offices, I was sharply rebuffed as if to say we don’t communicate with the other side. The continuing stalemate in Congress will lead to uncertainly through all of our communities. Everyone is on edge about what might happen tomorrow. All to often we assume a negative outlook and like Chicken Little we go looking for pieces of the sky landing in our back yards. Yesterday’s headlines brought talk of the New Recession when the market lost five hundred points. Yet this morning the market gained one hundred sixty five points back in fifteen minutes. I would think that until we have collectively a felling of real confidence this whiplash will continue to roil the market and our lives.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltaire