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Anthony P says:

Hear, hear! I’m glad you addressed both political parties here, Tammy–this data shows how bad the overall morale is. However, many times citizens write off politicians as being an entirely different class of human being…American politicians are either immoral or principled only in a very particular sense. They are products of our free society. They are like us in almost every imaginable way–they are born and they die–they experience all of the inherent pains, accomplishments, and heartaches that life offers in between.

Yet they are regarded by the citizenry as a class of beings that are totally different.

This is wrong.

In our representative democracy, the power of the politician resides only in their ability to act on our behalf. It is not inherent, and it certainly does not last in perpetuity. Politicians are mere actors temporarily playing parts that are real only for us–they are the symbolic masks behind which we see our own faces.

This sense of ‘otherness’ that pervades America is a lie that segregates us and distances us from the processes of empowerment.

Americans are increasingly living in compartmentalized, like-minded clusters. Whether these communities are liberal or conservative matters not a jot.

The overall trend is dangerous and un-American.

Our shared freedoms and dreams should unite us in civil discourse.

I have yet to meet one American that did not dream of a better life for future generations. If America is splintering into culturally incomprehensible, balkanized communities, I for one am proud to live in such an open and politically diverse arena as Champaign-Urbana.

(I’m a small business owner that’s running for office for the first time in my life!)

jdb says:

I agree with everything you said, Tammy, but an even more disgusting dimension to this is that these people are not ignoring the people in furtherance of a New World Order or a North American Union. If that were the case we could at least say that they have an agenda and are following their convictions and working towards a goal, albeit a goal not wanted by the people. However, this congress is nothing more than recipients of large payoffs and political favor. That makes them even more criminal in my mind.

Paul From Hamburg says:

Excellent essay Tammy. Some people say otherwise, but there are substantial differences between Democrats and Republicans. What ties way, way too many of them together is gnosticism. Unfortunately, that term is not used very much, so I will elaborate. Basically, gnostics believe that they have a special understanding that others do not and cannot possess. This special knowledge entitles them to govern. Anyone who denies that the gnostics are special is just demonstrating their own inferiority. Liberals have always been gnostics; it is at the heart of most liberal programs and positions. It is also what makes a man serve one year in the US Senate and then decide he is qualified to run the entire country. Sadly, too many Republicans have decided that they are the smartest person in the room and deserve to be in charge.