Angels, Devils, and Uncompromising Stupidity

With the elections just a week away, something several of our staff members recently saw on Facebook has been brought to mind again by the recent comments of Senate Minority leader, Mitch McConnell.

What we saw last week as we were updating our Facebook pages was a comment proudly boasting the following:

Overheard at the dinner table tonight : "Remember kids, tomorrow is the Weekly Reader election, and we only vote for candidates with an 'R' after their name. -[spouse's name] I married a good [person.]"

Aside from the fact that brainwashing one's kids instead of teaching them critical thinking is disgusting, we're not entirely surprised at this admission of thoughtless behavior, given the current political environment in America. We are disappointed, however.

That disappointment continued late yesterday, when we read the interview of Sen. McConnell by National Journal's Major Garrett.

No matter who wins the election next week, it's obvious that BOTH sides will have to find REAL compromise in order to accomplish anything the next two years. Yet McConnell, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, said the following in his interview:

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Even though MILLIONS of Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Even though we are still fighting one war (and truly haven't finished cleaning up from another). Even though there are massive problems with the budget, with the need to find more revenue and to refine the Federal budget further. Even though our entire political system is practically up for grabs to the highest bidder right now, the GOP's most powerful Senator seems to think NONE of those issues are more important than simply sinking the agenda of a President who happens to be from the opposing political party.

We've said it before, and we'll repeat it again: there are members of each party who are less than shining examples of either their party's politics or ethical conduct in general. Voting strictly party line only keeps these morally bankrupt fools in office. It's also an almost guaranteed way to end up with a deadlocked political system that isn't responsive to the needs of the people it is supposed to serve.

Sure, most of us have the metaphorical little devil on our shoulders who says the same thing as the misguided parent we saw on Facebook, especially when we encounter situations that favor our chosen political party.

The truth, however, is that - unlike Sen. McConnell - we should vote for people whose policies we agree with, those who will work in a bipartisan fashion in order to make things better for all of us.

There is a reason President Obama campaigned on the idea that we need to appeal to the better angels of our nature, instead of the little devils. We hope you'll remember that as you head into the voting booth.