AJ Circhirillo
Over the last couple of months the issue of healthcare reform has seemed to cause a rift between the democratic and republican parties, so much so that anyone with moderate or independent ideologies are cast away with resentment by the reigning democratic and republican powers.
Troubling issues over healthcare are not the first time that those that govern the American people did not see eye to eye. As a matter of fact, the very men that established this great nation found themselves torn by different beliefs. Some of their names can be found on the Declaration of Independence; their hopes and beliefs implemented into the living document that is the American Constitution. It was the Anti- Federalists under Thomas Jefferson’s beliefs against those of the federalists that sided with Alexander Hamilton. The political rifts that they created two hundred plus years ago can be felt within the make up of current political parties.
Today American politics divide this country between “conservative” Republicans and “liberal” democrats. These political parties have become very divided over the serious debates concerning healthcare reform. President Obama has a host of issues that were flung onto his plate a little more that a year ago; recently healthcare reform has become the most highly debated. The country seems disenchanted with the wars going on over seas; shifting their attention to the hundreds of billions of dollars that will be the cost of socialized medicine.
Crystal clear answers are a hard thing to come by when concerning issues that affect the melting pot that is America. However, one plan that never seems to falter is the ability to learn from the past. In George Washington’s farewell address he warned America against the evil of political parties. Washington warned that the problem with political parties is that they care more of building up power and numbers in an effort to best their opponent than concentrating on solidifying the rights of the common man.
America did not heed Washington’s warning and the battle over political parties continued, fueling debates over slavery that would eventually participate in the cause of the Civil War. The strength of sensible minds were victorious at the unfortunate cost of many American lives.
Recently there has been turmoil with the election of Democrat Scott Brown. Brown was able to secure a seat for the Republicans in the Senate. This was a small, but celebrated victory for a menial republican fraction of the senate. Neither Republican nor Democrat knows exactly what to think of Brown, but both sides are pressuring him into picking sides. The president and Democratic Party have been fighting for months to get the health bill signed; unfortunately at every corner there has been a Republican to put up a roadblock. Neither side is finding any compromise. The bill is a stagnant mess that burdens the Senate floor. In President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address, he scolded both Democrats and Republicans saying, “Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can. The confirmation of — I’m speaking to both parties now. The confirmation of well-qualified public servants shouldn’t be held hostage to the pet projects or grudges of a few individual senators.”
Our country finds itself in a very fragile state once again. It stages wars on the foreign soil of the Middle East, as well as the domestic soil of Congress. The American people await the “change” that President Obama pledged over a year ago. Hopefully it is positive and hopefully it comes soon. President Obama cannot do it alone, Congress must set aside political parties and focus on the problems at hand if they are to resolve America’s many issues.