Monday, January 24, 2011 - 
commentary
9 comments
commentary
9 comments
Date Night for the State of the Union
This year a handful of legislators from opposing parties will be sitting together, including some pretty big names like Sen. Chuckie Schumer (D) and Sen. John McCain (R) (though those two won't be sitting together). A big Thank You to Sen. Mark Udall from Colorado who came up with this idea.
Do I think that this will end partisanship in Washington D.C.? No, but I actually agree with something that Schumer said (Never thought I'd ever say that!), "It's true it's symbolic, but let's not forget (that) oftentimes in history, symbols influence reality."
I think that I have to thank the Rally to Restore Sanity for this turn of events (and the mid-term elections). Though the motivation for the rally was for Jon Stewart to thumb his nose at Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally, a couple of months before, the result demonstrated how sick people are of the contentiousness in Washington.
When you couple that with the dismal mid-term elections for the Democrats, they realized that they're going to have to work with the Republicans if a) they want to keep the Republicans from working to dismantle everything they did in the past two years, b) they want to accomplish anything on their agenda in the next two years.
I realize that we're not in fairy-land. I know that we have some contentious times ahead, but this is a very encouraging start. And even if it happens this one time, and the next day they're back at each others' throats, I will be thankful for the one day. It's better than nothing.
9 comments:
I submit that it takes both sides working together. It can't just be about Democrats "realizing" that they have to work with Republicans. Republicans have to admit that sometimes people outside of their own party have good ideas, and they should stop saying "No" just on general principal.
In my opinion, the perception that needs to change is what I just wrote...that Democrats don't want to work together and Republicans say "No" to anything that isn't their idea.
But I do join you in the hope of stringing together more than a couple of hours of real compromise that works toward real solutions for real people. I'm not completely cynical and I do think it can happen.
Travis: I agree that it takes both sides. If it sounded like I hold the Democrats more responsible at the present time, it's probably because they've had overwhelming majorities in both houses and the presidency for the past two years. I saw very little good faith effort by the Democrats to work with Republicans during this time period. Personally, I'm an independent. And like you, I hope that both sides can work together to find real solutions for real people.
That was a wonderful post, Cherie!
I think they should have to sit together all the time. Studies have shown that students who were assigned neighboring seats felt friendlier toward each other than those who sat further apart. Of course, that probably only works if the person behind you isn't kicking your seat. ;)
Hey! Did you finish your thesis?
It is a seed planted, and we know what the Bible has to say about seeds. This one landed on fertile soil. Now, let's water it with prayer and hope a good crop overcomes the weeds.
about all I can say of a positive nature to this gesture is that it is better than nothing
it is however really cool to see you blogging again :)
Lisa: Still working on the thesis. Thanks for asking. I was inspired after hearing about this. :)
Quilly: You said a cotton-pickin' mouthful there, girl! :)
Dianne: Got to start somewhere. I think this an aberration with the blogging at the moment. We'll see what happens. I'm still in the throes of thesis. Also, I'm re-assessing what I want to do with the blog.
More participation than I expected. I am very pleased. Today, I heard a suggestion made that the Senate cease organizing their seating by party altogether. It likely cause a different problem, but the shake up could be good. "Because that's the way we've always done it," is never good as the only reason for continuing a practice. Integration is the key to understanding.
I think they should always have to sit D, R, D, R. Let's start a protest until they do.
Nessa: What an excellent idea! :)
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