I’m Angry and Embarrassed by the US Government’s Behavior

October 16, 2013

Reading the papers this morning, I found myself seething about what is going on in Washington. With such dire consequences on the line, how did we get to this place where grown adults can’t get into a room and iron something out? I wanted to jump on a train to Washington, go to the Capitol, grab a few people by the lapels, throw them up against the wall and tell them to get their f**king act together.

To be clear, I don’t really know who to throw up against the wall. The spinning, twisting, endless layers of BS are impossible to parse — impossible at least for someone who has a job and can’t spend endless hours trying to follow the ridiculous nuances in this debate. The last sticking point I read this morning surrounded cutting benefits for White House and Capitol staffers and the deal will go through. What the heck is that? Does that really warrant this sort of upheaval?

Congress’s job is to go to Washington to represent their constituents, but that doesn’t mean their job it to represent ONLY the narrow agenda that their constituents have. Their job is to see the broader picture of what this country needs, find workable solutions informed by their constituents needs, and then go back home and sell people on what they had to do to get this country moving again.

This petty, narrow-agenda wrangling can never be a long term solution.

In the end, I can’t get to the bottom what’s happening in Washington with all the jockeying — and I don’t think many people who have real jobs can either. But what I do know is that I’m pissed. And I think a lot of other people are pissed too.

It’s time for the people in Washington to grow up and do their jobs.