EDITORIAL: Government by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists

Politicians use deplorable tactics to oust each other from office, while ignoring the implications that their political immaturity is having on our economy – namely, sequestration.

The inability of our politicians to compromise, has led to $85 billion in spending cuts to various government programs within the next year, and a total budget reduction of $1.2 Trillion within the next 10 years.

Since the formation of our three legislative branches, the right to control the federal budget has never been taken away from Congress.

By now, most of the U.S. population is aware of the dog-and-pony act called congressional debate. Political gridlock has become a common phrase in Washington and throughout the nation.

Congressional immaturity is at an all-time high. The nation’s leaders cannot even sit in the same room with each other for longer than a few hours. Or, they simply walk away from talks altogether, a reality that John Boehner, the current House Speaker, exemplifies quite well. Immaturity is not the only instrument in a politician’s arsenal of deception.

Propaganda has also been a useful tool for Republicans and Democrats alike. Both parties seem to have their own personal media affiliations that run to the rescue after any member of the opposing party makes a leadership decision or tries to craft any legislation. And the smear campaign begins…

It is almost common knowledge that FOX indirectly regurgitates the issues and perspectives that the GOP represents, while very few conservatives support higher taxes. Likewise, almost every university and independent news media outlet in the world is considered inherently liberal.

Does this sort of leadership set a good example for future politicians headed to Washington? Should we continue to encourage partisan politics if it has failed us for this long?

Partisan politics have never worked and the blame game is far from reaching a legitimate proposal to reduce the national debt and get the federal budget under control. The nation’s place in the global market depends upon politicians who are willing to make compromises with each other.

It is time for an integrity check amongst congressional members. One proposal becoming ubiquitous in Washington is the signing of pledges to enforce party discipline.

These pledges attempt to force politicians to adhere to the issues they endorsed during their campaigns. It sounds nice on paper, but it is a potential disaster. Forcing politicians to endorse old legislation, even if they receive new information and have a better perspective from which to make a decision, is a bad idea.

Pledges like the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, started by Americans For Tax Reform, was written and endorsed in 1985 by Grover Norquist. Norquist, a conservative libertarian from Pennsylvania, has spent the last two decades getting more than 95 percent of the Republican Party to sign this pledge, which opposes tax increases. If a Republican who signed the pledge votes in favor of a tax increase, he or she is politically humiliated.

The pledges appear to be, more accurately, a sort of childhood nostalgia associated with keeping pacts, making clubhouses and thinking girls are gross.

Meanwhile, no one seems to notice the effects of the sequestration on our nation, even if appropriations bills are being passed to ease the pain of the initial spending cuts.

Agencies being spared through appropriations bills and funding transfers will simply pass the debt along to other government agencies. Reallocation of debt is not the solution we want to balance the federal budget.

Sadly, some of the organizations that will suffer the toughest budget cuts are affiliated with child nutrition, early education and wellness programs. For instance, more than 70,000 children will be cut from the Head Start program because of sequestration cuts. Other programs may have more flexibility to shift their budgets in preparation of the spending cuts.

Cutting entitlement programs and putting government employees on furlough is not a good solution for balancing the federal budget. This undoes all of the economic recovery that has ensued since the recent economic recession and further slows future growth in the nation.

It is time for the nation’s politicians to grow up and start compromising with each other before America goes bankrupt to the tune of partisan politics. Seeking a bipartisan solution is in the best interest of every party involved, especially the American people.