Gangsters in Public Office

You can learn a lot working at a school.

I always know when I've pissed off a teenager.  (Excuse my language---language gets rough when you work at school!)  No matter what I say or do after that, I'm wrong.  Persona non grata.  No eye contact (except for a glare).  No acknowledgement (except for sarcasm).  Certainly no applause!  If I piss off one of the 1400+ students at my school, she will probably get a bunch of her friends to ignore me too.  Even if I'm handing out extra credit or free passes to an early lunch, she will find fault.

That's how I know that the Republicans are mad at President Obama, and the Democrats are mad at the Republicans.  When the President speaks, the Republicans won't even look at him.  In an enormous bill, like Heath Care Insurance reform, there's not ONE SINGLE THING that deserves their acknowledgement.  And the Democrats will NEVER applaud a Republican idea.  NEVER.

That's the way it goes with teenagers---but oops!  These are not teenagers.  These are elected officials engaged in "tick tock the game's locked and nobody else can play!"

It's disappointing and discouraging to regular mopes like me who actually have to  listen to their colleagues.  We have to work WITH people.  We've learned that means actually trying to hear and understand someone else's point of view.

That's right.  Try to understand the other guy.  Give him credit for a good idea and work it into your plan, bragging about where you got it.  Let him shine in your world.

I'll bet the country's bloated and expanding Health Care Insurance bottom line that adults on both sides of the aisle in the Capitol Building secretly recognize some excellent components of the other guys' proposals.  But like wanna be gangsters, they will never give an inch of territory because his shirt is red and mine is blue.

And the penalty for being red is death of your ideas.  Or if you're blue, I will never acknowledge your contributions. 

Let's line up with our homies and watch their backs!  Loyalty to the point of idiocy.  To hell with the country.  To hell with the charge of serving the people.  By god, I will play it safe!