As they campaign for the upcoming November elections, Republicans are promising to completely undo President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, which arguably had more impact than any other of his accomplishments as president thus far. Their new slogan is "Repeal and Replace," and they have also pledged to deny any additional money Obama requests to implement the plan.
Although it is discouraging that many politicians seem intent on moving backward rather than forward, the editorial board suspects that this is mostly about getting elected into office and less about what party members will actually do.
Either way, it is more evidence that while our brave soldiers fight a war in the Middle East and defend our freedom, united as Americans, old men in suits are fighting a civil war in the Capitol building, tearing the nation apart.
Political party wars are nothing new; they are almost as old as the United States itself. It seems, though, that in the last few years the usual back-and-forth in the background has made its way to center stage, leaving the real issues aside.
For instance, Republicans have unanimously voted against almost every piece of legislation proposed by the Obama camp. We find it hard to believe that each one of those politicians truly believed that every proposition was bad.
If there is a fine line drawn between doing what's best for the nation and making a political statement out of pride or spite, today's politicians have crossed far beyond it. As elections loom closer and closer, the problem will only get worse.
Some might say that this is just a phenomenon limited to election season and that after November, things will settle down as elected officials get back to work. But will Democrats and Republicans burn too many bridges in their harsh campaigning against one another to ever have a hope of working together one day?
Voters, too, are guilty of the same problem. Everybody knows people who go to the polls on Election Day and vote Democrat or Republican all the way down the line, even if they don't recognize the names of the candidates. You may be one of those people.
By doing so, you are only encouraging the politicians to keep warring against each other as they strive to make you one of their allies.
In recent speeches, President Obama has been using an analogy in which he compares the economy to a car. Republicans, he says, drove the car into a ditch. Upon taking over two years ago, the Democrats, according to the president, worked hard to start pushing the car out of the ditch. Now, the Republicans want the keys back.
His analogy is missing something, though. He never seems to mention where they are driving the car. Everybody is too concerned with who is at the wheel.
