Politics as usual

It is easy to get disillusioned with politics. Having been around and through more than one legislative session even in my thirties I realize that much of what is going in is just more of the same. Due to term limits and the passing of time the faces change and to some extent the tactics get more and less nasty, but the brawl is the same.

What gets lost is the simple fact that we deserve better. This was pointed out to me this week in several weeks at the national and local level. Maybe it hit me most when I was reading the Billings Gazette this morning and noticed a particular news items about politics that came with a warning label about bad language.

Some would say that it is easy to look at it from the outside and criticize, but I’ve been there in one role or another and like I said, it doesn’t change much. On top of that is the fact that perspective makes a lot of things more clear. A person can appreciate summer more in the depth of winter.

Somehow we have allowed ourselves to reward the worse behavior in politics. That’s not to say that politicians themselves are bad people. They are not. It is just that we have fed good people into a system that rewards them for their worst behavior. Great legislators that seek compromise are seen as soft. Those that don’t follow a strict party line are abandoned politically and socially, and maybe worst of all those that sometimes speak from a deep conviction are accused of a variety of intellectual crimes.

As a final note, this is not at all about party. Republicans and Democrats are coequal in the blame and there is plenty to go around. A third party – improbable at best. It is going to take a reformer internally who can stand alone. Someone with dare I say the communication skills of Bill Clinton with the conviction and willingness to buck convention of George Bush Jr. Crazy – probably.