As we prepare for a new slate of respectful dialogue in 2019 and an earnest desire to be a promoter of efficient, effective and compassionate solution, allow me to share a concern echoed from the year behind, as editorialized by CNN and multiple outgoing senators… [all emphasis mine]…
“As departing senators said their goodbyes to Washington, a number of Democrats and Republicans took the opportunity to express concern about the state of the Senate and the political climate.
‘All the evidence points to an unsettling truth: The Senate as an institution is in crisis,’ retiring Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah lamented in his farewell speech delivered on the Senate floor.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, who was defeated in the November midterm elections, echoed that idea when she delivered her own farewell speech. ‘I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was worried about this place,’ she said. ‘It just doesn’t work as well as it used to.’
‘Something is broken,’ the Missouri Democrat went on to say. ‘If we don’t have the strength to look in the mirror and fix it, the American people are going to grow more and more cynical.’
As senators who were either ousted in the elections or decided to retire and not seek another term reflected on their time in Congress, many expressed dismay at how divided Washington has become as lawmakers retreat to entrenched partisan positions that leave little room for compromise or common ground…
But while departing senators had unique messages to impart, the overarching idea that there’s a problem with the current state of politics was a consistent theme.
‘What in the world has happened to civility and to humility in our nation’s public discourse?’ Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who lost his seat in the midterms, asked in his farewell speech.
‘Tribalism is our problem, and if not corrected, it’s going to take our country down,’ he warned…
As departing senators outlined concerns in their farewell speeches, many described what they believe has contributed to the highly divisive political climate and what they think needs to change.
McCaskill urged lawmakers to have the courage to take ‘tough votes.’
‘Solving the toughest problems will not happen without tough votes,” she said. ‘We can talk about the toughest problems… we can argue about them, we can campaign on them, but we’re not going to solve them without tough votes.’
Nelson and outgoing Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, who also lost his seat in the midterms, suggested that an influx of big money in politics has had a corrosive effect, making an argument common to the Democratic Party…
Hatch, meanwhile, decried “identity politics,” a concept often invoked critically by Republicans, who frequently accuse Democrats of subscribing to it… ‘identity politics is nothing more than dressed-up tribalism’…
In their farewell speeches, departing senators also reflected on fond memories of their time in Congress, and some expressed optimism for the future despite their concerns…”
I believe, too, there exists reason for optimism. However, it starts with:
- looking in the mirror
- allowing room for compromise or common ground; and…
- valuing civility and humility in our discourse.
Here’s to the Intramuralist in 2019. May we always be part of the solution.
Respectfully…
AR