I would encourage you to rate the resilience of the individuals who represent you in the Senate and House of Representatives. Keep in mind that 290 bills have been passed by the House of Representatives as of late February but have had no action by the Senate. Many of these bills passed with bipartisan support. The Senate, however, has taken no action on these bills because of the threat of a filibuster each time a bill is presented to the Senate. In other words, the Senate has done very little in the past 6 months. If we look specifically at the skills and attitudes of resilience, such as connectiveness, we see a Congress that is extremely bipartisan and totally disconnected. If we look for effective communication within Congress – specifically, the Senate – we often don’t see it. Flexibility doesn’t seem to exist, especially with the party of “no.” Managing strong feelings, such as fear, is a skill many of our Congressmen and Congresswomen and Senators seem to not have. Problem-solving skills seem to be lacking on both sides. Congress, I believe, should get a failing grade in terms of their primary role, which is to take care of this nation and its citizens.
However, Congress should probably get a passing grade on taking care of “self,” since much of the current behavior of our Congress seems to be focused on the issue of getting reelected and staying in office versus taking care of the public and the welfare of this nation. It would be good if these representatives of our nation could show self-confidence in their positions rather than simply bluster and if they could communicate with each other, really listening to the other side of an argument would be a good start. Those of us watching the present horror show will hopefully keep a sense of humor and be optimistic knowing that this, too, will pass. I would encourage you to look carefully at the behavior of your representatives and let them know how resilient you feel they are being in dealing with the present problems our nation in facing.
Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
No comments:
Post a Comment