We Have Met The Enemy

While some are still confused about it, most people now understand that both the election and the Iron Age are now history. Reflecting on the mess of last few weeks, one lesson is that we need look no further than the mirror to identify its causes. As the wise philosopher, Pogo, once said, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

I’m not just talking about the seventy million of us who wanted at least four more years of the Orange Menace. Clearly, that makes no sense. It’s like finally reaching safety from a pack of flesh-eating vermin and then deciding to go back in because you forgot your lucky penny. No, I’m focused on the non-Presidential nonsense. I’m focused on the tragic results in Congress.

How often have you had a conversation about Congress when all agreed that it was doing a great job? My bet is never. This is borne out by the stats. As of just before the election, Congress had a public approval rating of 19%. And that was actually up two points from the month before. The Unabomber might get close to that, at least in Montana.

Let’s get basic. What is Congress? It’s not an abstraction. It’s not just an Institution. It’s certainly not just the building with the dome on top. It’s people. It’s people – five hundred and thirty-five of them. If four out of five of us disapprove of what Congress is doing, then four out of five of us disapprove of what those people are doing. And how can we best show our disapproval? At the ballot box. At least, it would seem that way. But, things are not always as they seem.

This time, four Senators and twenty-six House Members decided that they’d had enough and didn’t run for re-election. So, 440 of those people whom we apparently can’t stand, asked for our votes. Out of those 440 people with their 19% approval rating it would seem that we must have rejected a whole bunch of them. Right? Wrong. Very wrong. No, we booted out a whole 13 of them.  That’s right – a baker’s dozen of those disliked public non-servants got fired and 427 of them got the same jobs back that we don’t think they can do. Put another way, we rejected 1.8% and re-elected 98.2%. Imagine if we actually liked them.

Some may try to excuse us by saying that it’s the system’s fault. We aren’t given a choice. Or, it’s all about money. The incumbents have the advantage in raising funds.  No question that those excuses are valid. They system does suck when it comes to alternative choices. And money, well, why even state the obvious? Money rules. But, those excuses imply that we are powerless. They imply that we can do nothing to change the circumstances that we decry. 

Now, I don’t claim that change like that is easy.  And I certainly am among the mob who complains but does little about it. After all, the theme of this blog is how we of the sixties generation turned our backs on our sixties mission of change. So, let’s have this election be a renewed trigger for just a little bit more involvement of us all.  Who knows, maybe next time we’ll only re-elect 80% of the people we don’t like.