On Political Reform

by: Anya Parampil

Writer, All About Business

There was a time when I had some hope in our political system. Maybe sitting in 8th grade civics class admiring my teacher’s narrative about waiting in line a whole day to cast his vote for a presidential candidate. Motivated people like him being the heart of a healthy democracy. Ah, how flawless democracy reads. But then I started paying attention. Watching more, reading more. I drew new conclusions.

Indeed there was a time when someone could have joked to a news junkie, like me, frustrated with the state of the union and beyond: “well, maybe one day you can run for President!” and I would have responded “I can only dream of it.” But no, anyone observing the current political climate close enough would now respond: “no, because I couldn’t actually fix anything.”

The election of Barack Obama and the subsequent battle over health care reform was confirmation. Health care reform was one of President Obama’s major “campaign promises”, one that the GOP surely hoped to peg him on. But if the public clearly elected a leader, you’d hope that means they clearly elected their promises. So why was passing a bill so operose? For a long time monitoring the rhetoric coming out of congress was akin to what I imagine a cameraman for some “unscripted” reality TV show goes through on a daily basis. We had a situation. Every factoid stated on one side of the isle was debated and twisted by the other side into something negative until someone ended up having a fit in front of a camera. Then someone on the other side of the drama would give an equally passion-filled rebuttal. And god forbid they go on vacation –er, recess- because that just meant screaming matches in stuffy venues (can you say “town halls?”). Soon Obama was killing your grandmother and preventing you from seeing the doctor you’ve come to know and love. Everything got so immature and dramatic that by the time the bill was passed all people could do was question its effectiveness and cut the celebration- rightfully so. Between modern lobbying and political deal making who knows what was in the final draft. Maybe now that “The Hills” is over MTVcould pick up its singular cousin and make a reality TV show about excitement on “The Hill.”

When thinking about why politics needs to be reformed, a little gem I picked up while scanning Denis Leary’s Wikipedia page (because hey, that’s what’s fun) came to mind. The comedian once said: “”I was a life-long Democrat, but now at my age, I’ve come to realize that the Democrats suck, and the Republicans suck, and basically the entire system sucks. But you have to go within the system to find what you want.” I think regardless of ones original political leanings, that about sums it up, Mr. Leary. And while yes, democracy still probably is the only the worst form of government until compared to all the others Mr. Churchill, it’s about time we practiced it like adults. (This is just looking with a domestic eye, I’d have much more than the maximum word count worth to say concerning how politics mess up our international standing as a country!)

EDITORS NOTE: Bio has been omitted due to this article being written for our July 29 Rebuilding America Panel event. To get tickets, please go to www.rebuildingamerica.eventbrite.com