Partisanship and the public trust
By Max Stephenson Jr.
Two items caught my attention recently and caused me to reflect on when hyper-partisanship can or should become an ethical concern and to ponder the appropriate reach of our legislators’ oaths to serve the United States Constitution.
The first item appeared in TheRoanoke Times on May 20, “Top Democrats say Republicans are stalling the economic recovery to hurt President Barack Obama’s re-election chances.” The story concerned House Speaker John Boehner’s decision to raise the issue of using the nation’s debt ceiling as a cudgel to obtain deep cuts in social service spending when the current limit expires again in coming months.
Stephenson is a professor and director of the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance.
June 1, 2012 - 6:11 AM
So Professor Stephenson has growing concerns..little late to the party.
No budget for the last 3 years because of a total lack of leadership by Harry Reid in the democratic controlled senate and Prezbo from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave…but that’s OK. Right professor?
So now that the nation’s fed government is forced to work through Continuing Resolutions and debt ceiling negotiations to fund itself, and as a replacement to that old fashion budget process, the Professor feels that Obama should have free reign.
Members on both sides of the aisle see the need to reform the medicare,’caids and soc sec. Yet when the majority leader/speaker of the house says let’s get together and negotiate some meaningful changes, he’s out of line.
Odd that in attacking what he said, you proved what he said BUD.
What he did not say was that Obama should have “free reign” nor that there were no legitimate concerns. What he said was that Boehner was not voicing a legitimate concern, he was using a political tactic, which is not his job, and does not serve the oath he took.
I am saddened that you do not get that. And that you have fallen for the talking point about a damn “budget process” that would be just like the “sex selection” abortion bill vote yesterday. Along party lines and achieving nothing. Congress is broken. Their approval rating is lower than felons. It takes an impossible 2/3 majority to do even regular business much less the hard stuff. Their inactivity in solving anything and their hyper-partisan tactics do not serve this nation or the constitution and therefore does violate the oath they swore. THAT was his point and it is valid.
Whatever Obama or anyone else on earth has or will do wrong does not mitigate or excuse them. Even in a sea of insanity (if the TP/GOP is to be believed), they should still rise above it and solve problems and they are choosing to only exacerbate them. That is not leadership or good governance no matter who is in the White House or what they do.