COMMENTARY | When I follow the national news, do you want to know what I'm sick and tired of? I'm sick and tired of so many Americans saying they're sick and tired of political gridlock in Washington.
The Associated Press conducted a survey regarding the ongoing stalemate over the debt ceiling and budget deficit reduction, and the result was predictable. Most folks said simply that they are weary of the bickering.
"(Politicians) care about themselves, and that's the way it's always been," was the answer from 60-year-old Bob Krogman of St. Louis.
That's the kind of statement that is making me sick and tired.
First of all, it's such a mindless cliche to say each member of a certain group (politicians, used car salesmen, news reporters, you name it) is no good. Within ourselves, we should know better. There are good and bad people in any group.
Secondly, it's so simple to carry a cynical and sarcastic grievance against an entire group. Here's David Letterman with a typical laugh line from the late-night comics: "Congress is pledging to work around the clock until they're absolutely certain they will get nothing done." Audience members laugh at the generic, nonpartisan Congress joke and when the applause signs flash (both Letterman and Leno use these irritating devices), they clap, too.
Secondly, why won't people like Krogman say how they themselves feel about the specifics of debt reduction? Would Krogman restore the pre-Bush tax rates in order to shrink the deficit? (Maybe the AP reporter should have asked him.) If he feels strongly one way or another, then he might actually want elected officials who favor his view to "bicker" on his behalf.
My words are not meant to belittle Bob Krogman and people like him, who work too hard to have much time to follow politics. But I do believe citizens should at least meet minimum standards for keeping track of what's going on. My frustration with people who say they are sick and tired of the so-called political bickering comes when they seem to make little effort toward being informed on the issues of the day.
To tell the truth, I'm not as sick and tired of the stalemate as I am sick and tired of specific participants, such as House Minority Leader Eric Cantor and the various tea party activists with whom I disagree so strongly on taxation and other core issues in this debate. In other words, I'm trying to focus on whom I view as a cause of the stalemate rather than all-out blindly blaming all politicians with the same fault-finding.
At least I have an opinion that goes beyond, "What's wrong with all of them? I just wish they would stop arguing. They're all the same. Each of them is no good."
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