Politics is winner take all Tug of War

“When the truth pops up in the middle you are made aware.” anon.

Both kids and adults like to play Tug of War.  There are even professional Tug of War teams.  In our country the worst of these professional teams are our political parties. The attitude of conservative and progressive parties alike is to treat politics as an all out war, not just a healthy debate, not just a healthy Tug of War.

Honest debate and Tug of War have this in common: When both sides do their best to win, the truth will pop up somewhere in between and we spectators are only challenged to understand and accept the result.

In physical Tug of War truth is the ribbon dangling from the middle of the rope.  In political Tug of war truth should be found in the resulting laws our Congress passes.

Unfortunately in politics it’s never a straightforward game.

Some teams refuse to play, lying down instead, in the middle of the aisle kicking and screaming because they can’t have that sugarlicious box of ChocoPuffyLoops decorated with brightly colored sprites or bridges to nowhere.

Some teams tie the end of their rope to a tree then stand around whinging and whining saying they won’t play unless they are guaranteed to win.

Rarely do both teams just do their best, then accept the truth for what it is.

It is a major disservice to us when the folks we elect decide, instead of representing us and our opinions and trying to reach consensus (the truth), to hold fast to ideological dictum; choosing only between winning or not playing.

Politics should be an honest Tug of War, not an extreme sport where one team wins and the other must die.  In a true democracy all voices are heard, allowing the truth to emerge with the only challenge being that we accept the result.

In a sense we are as guilty as our politicians: they don’t always try to find the truth and we don’t always accept it when they do.  And the longer we, as a country, keep acting like this, the more our democracy weakens.

We don’t need teams of deaf-eared ideologues spewing dictum ad nauseam.   We need politicians who will fight for the truth then stand behind it once the issue is resolved; the ribbon dangling from the rope won’t always end up on the same side, but it should end up where the truth is.  Not in some predetermined place.