Christmas came a few days early for the Republican Party this week when they passed the tax bill, giving themselves something to crow about while the Democrats have something to whine about. And I think there is plenty to legitimately “whine about” with this legislation but I want to focus on a dimension of the issue that I don’t think is often recognized—I WANTED MY SIDE TO WIN!!! There was a sense in which this political issue was a simple pony race at the county fair and I wanted my pony to win and, suffering the ignominy of defeat, I’m disappointed and pissed! This seems very childish…because it is very childish and because I, like all of us, am very human. We can’t escape being human so we bring this “human-ness” to all matters even though we prefer to disregard childish immature motives like a simple desire to win.
However, I find nothing “wrong” with this human quality of mine. It is fun to win and not fun to lose. But, there are certainly other matters on the table in matters of this magnitude in which winning and losing are less important than what is in the best interest of the whole country. If I am not mature enough to have the honesty to recognize this childish need to win at all cost then I am apt to be driven to win at all costs, regardless of the consequences. Therefore, I am not of the, “I hope it fails” mind set which prevailed with many during the Obama administration. I am skeptical, but I hope it does succeed in creating jobs for the American people and strengthening the economy, though the economy appears to be doing quite well right now. I don’t like that the main impact of the bill appears to be the fattening of the purse of the wealthiest One Percent of our population but I’m not going to allow that egregious, shameless larceny to keep me from hoping there is good that comes from the legislation.
The main thing I am concerned with is the need of Congress to put on its “big boy/big girl pants” and stop focusing mainly on their side winning, on making decisions on the basis of assuring re-electibility, but on the basis of what is needed for the country. Merely having the winning pony at the county fair is so grade school.
The ONLY Truth in Politics 