I just finished watching the movie version of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s bestselling book, “Too Big To Fail.” For the millions of us who are yet to read it, I recommend you begin by watching the movie –if your time does not allow you to read the book– playing now on HBO, and actually, produced by HBO. For one, the cast is a round-up of first class actors, many whom you’ll recognize as they play the disliked CEOs of the financial institutions that are in great part to blame for this mess we’re still in three years later.
Autum of 2008 feels as if it were only yesterday. Unfortunately, the mess of that time is still quite present for so many. Andrew’s book no doubt, points to the many factors that led to that terrible state of things, the magnitude of the catastrophe that was really avoided, and the players who still have had a hand, and continue to have a hand on our economy. Trying really hard not to sound partisan, as much as it looks like every one had a part on this mess, including us the consumers, the story clearly indicates that the greed of the few that ran the financial institutions, protected by mainly Republicans, had a big piece of the stake in this mess.
Prior comment aside, clearly, partisanship is not going to get us anywhere. Clearly it has led us to undesired places. So, I will make every effort here not to point the finger at the ones I want so badly to continue pointing the finger to. Perhaps just this once is worth having done so we don’t allow these people back in power, perhaps so we’re reminded and don’t make that mistake again. Last year, the rise of the so called “independent” Tea Party movement, clearly financed by the Republicans who want to return to power at any cost, is not fooling the rest of us, true independents.
We do NOT need anymore finger pointing though, as tempting as it is, and so easy to dwell on. It is so, so easy to fall into that. God knows how much I want to. But mine is only one of the million voices in this country, who have such little weight, without the multimillion donation behind it, that would have an impact on the vote of our so called “political representatives”.
Despite that, as all these economic, global and political issues crowd my head, there are no calls for partisanship from here, to go further to the left or the right, or blame a certain group for our economic woes. It is tempting, but we can no longer afford this luxury.
We are going through such challenging times at this point that the only option we have as voters, is to set our differences aside, for the sake of our common good.
We can no longer afford to let our differences and ideology divide us. Those who want to remain in power would love that, and will make sure to invest money in doing so in the upcoming election. They will make sure to bring up hot-topic buttons such as abortion rights, gay rights, immigrant rights, gun rights, taxes, etc. They’ll invest millions of dollars to keep us apart, so that their politician of choice –or better said, their high-ticket political representative– will vote for their interests, even if that vote goes against the interest of the people.
I would like to call upon each of us, to look into our hearts, our minds and step up to participate more actively into the political process, not necessarily to push for our own personal agendas, but setting aside those and looking to contribute to the collective good, even if at times we may not agree. The one rule we must respect is that we cannot trample on each other’s personal rights. We cannot. How can we fight so hard for the rights to own guns, yet fight so hard to keep women from making decisions over their own bodies? How can we fight so hard to keep taxes low for the ones in the upper income levels, yet allow the middle class to carry the burden of our country’s infrastructure? We need, desperately, to set aside our differences, find areas of agreement, and take it from there.
Life is too short to waste not contributing to the common good. We all have a purpose that goes beyond ourselves. We need to start looking beyond our immediate wants and needs, and lend a helping hand to our communities in some way, doing something positive that will bring us together. We are fortunate to live in an amazing country that still defends the rights of the individual, a country with abundance of ideas and talent. We just need more good will, more community good will. For that is what will save us from empowering those few who suck the blood from our true democracy and capacity for middle class prosperity.
Let’s not fall for the single-issue campaigns, the one-line slogans. Let’s be smart enough to read through the lines and discern the lies, the hot button manipulations. I don’t see anything wrong with having an agenda that does not necessarily have party “purity”. Enough of that purity crap!
Though I advocate for bipartisanship, don’t be surprised if in my future entries you’ll find me railing against those campaigns (Republican or otherwise) that clearly do not represent the voters and the common good. I won’t hesitate to speak up, not necessarily against a party, but more against whatever ideology is likely to hurt the voters, if in power.
A great example of bipartisanship is the bipartisan vote to pass same-sex marriage legalization here in our great state of NY. Kudos to all those who worked hard to make it happen, and for those political representatives who looked beyond their own personal agendas and ideology, and voted for what’s best for the people. Having seen this last night, gave me hope.
So, stay tuned and don’t hesitate to voice your opinion here as well. Looking forward to your comments here and on Twitter.
