Stop Bickering!

Do you remember when you were a kid and you would get in a fight with your brother or sister? Remember how it would degenerate into the blame game and name calling with snappy comebacks like "I know you are, but what am I?" and "it takes one to know one"? Am I the only one who sees this in our political system today?

And do you remember how Mom would handle it? After she was done banging your heads together, what did she do? Did she worry about who started it and was to blame? Or did she come up with a solution that worked (at least in part) for both of you? Bingo, she made you compromise and if you objected, she made sure that the next solution was completely impalatable. With my own children I have always made it clear that, in most cases, I don't care so much about who started it as I am with who is mature enough to end it!

I think our two political parties, particularly in Congress, could learn a very valuable lesson from this example. The American people are tired of hearing politicians bicker and blame. They want leaders who are mature enough to get beyond that immature approach and find solutions to the nations' problems. They want leaders who care less about who's to blame (there's plenty of that to go around) and care more about actually leading us to better places. And yes, that means they want leaders who have the maturity and courage to compromise so that each side gets some of what they desire. People are tired of watching the political equivalent of stomping your feet and pulling your hair, when you don't get your way. It's time for our leaders to get down to doing productive work and demonstrating the character exhibited by the leaders that founded this nation 234 years ago.