Well I've been biting my tongue as best I can on this one, as I'm sure others here have as well. Actually I'm pleasantly surprised and impressed that it hasn't gone completely sideways yet, as there are surely some pretty strong emotions on this. I do feel the need to put one small point across before it goes downhill; I'll try to keep this as politically neutral as can be given the circumstances. I think that we can probably all agree that the situation is almost comical if it wasn't so pathetic, and real! Perhaps there's a lesson in all of this for us though.
While we probably have some very different "villains", and place the blame on different shoulders; I would hope that we can all relate to some things. I think that it's not too much for folks of all political persuasion to see this as what it really is: partisan politics at its worst, where party ethics and ideals along with political power strategies have surpassed the good of the people on the day to day level. While there are strong opinions and arguments surrounding all issues at hand here, the fact remains that most of us would prefer that the two parties could find some way to reconcile and come to an agreement to keep things running smoothly (ok, maybe just "running" might be a start). Despite this we have kind of set ourselves up for these kinds of scenarios by electing the very types of officials who are more driven by their own goals to reach more powerful positions within their party and to up their own party's place of power in the long run. Never mind real human, economic, or environmental degradation; how might this little maneuver play out for our party and its interests?
*IF* you have similar frustrations, I would encourage you to:
a) communicate this to your representatives. Let them know how you think they could do better!
b) strongly consider how future candidates would act in similar situations, and try to support and encourage those who might act with a bit more empathy and consideration for the greater good before the good of their own political agenda (or that of their party). We've all got our ideals and our "issues" that pull strongly for our votes, but the reality is that none of that really does us a bit of good if we are constantly bogged down to the point of utter childish level gridlock.
c) contemplate ways in which we as individuals might do better at working with those who have some opposing political viewpoints. It's sad to see such disparaging remarks about our nation and it's government; when you think about the sheer potential even a handful of people have when they are able to agree on. We will never, ever agree on everything; but there is still a lot we can accomplish *if* we focus a lot more of our efforts and energies on the areas that we do agree on. I think this, like most good things in the world, will have to come "from the ground up"; individuals and communities first, state and federal governments second, and just perhaps...someday...globally last.
Pardon the rant, it's as close to politics as I care to get here; hopefully no one was seriously hurt or offended. If so, go fish more, it's good for the soul... and thankfully the fish don't seem to care about politics.
Tight lines everyone, keeping my fingers crossed that this soap opera has it's grand finally soon!
JB
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Originally Posted by Darian
I'm certainly not going to cancel any of my activities on "public lands". All non-essential personnel are not at work. That most likely includes forestry types who aren't fighting fires....
Transparency....????
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