Democracy Inaction

I'll admit I stole the title of this post from John Stewart's book "America: a Guide to Democracy Inaction." When I first got that book for Christmas years ago and read it I was amused, but lacked some of the knowledge and understanding I have now. Sad though it is, the book is aptly titled. We have reached a point where democracy inaction is the norm.

I've spent plenty of time lambasting Republicans for their failure to do anything about the impending fiscal cliff, and rightfully so. The party's woeful lack of leadership and ideas is an embarrassment for them and a travesty for America, but Republicans are not the only group in need of some public shaming. Credit (or in this case scorn) must be given when credit is due, and in this instance Democrats are deserving of scorn as well.

It's true that Republicans have rejected offers that are not only fair, but even favorable to their positions because they are unwilling to compromise even a little bit, but given their past history that's unsurprising. If Republicans don't want to contribute to the nation's future - and they've shown they don't have any interest in that - I still expect Democrats to propose ideas. Sadly the Democratic party, while hugely preferable to the alternative is good in a comparative sense, acceptable in an absolute one. The current haranguing over missing a self-imposed deadline (more on that in a moment) has proven to be a real facade for the American people. While we rightfully blame Republicans for their intransigence and compete lack of ideas, their embarrassing collapse the week before the holidays left an opening that Democrats are either unwilling or unable to exploit. It doesn't matter whether or not they have no ideas or are unwilling to bring them to the table, in the last week, Democrats have shown they are poor leaders as well. In the eight days since House Republicans could not or would not pass their own plan we have gotten...eight days closer to missing a self-imposed deadline. Democrats have been absent. Literally. They went home for the holidays. Gifted both a political and policy win by the disaster that is the Republican party, Democrats have so far given us nothing.

And so we are now three days away from missing a self-imposed deadline that would perhaps lead us into another recession, at the very least scare markets and be a disastrous few days for people's portfolios. And again, all of this is self-imposed. I find myself wondering what the leaders and people of other countries think to themselves - especially those who live in countries suffering from the global economic downturn - when they see that the United States of America, the world's supposed leader, has created a scenario in which we may send ourselves into recession. Democracy inaction indeed. Compromise has become the antithesis of success in the political mind and in political discourse, just not in reality. So we continue to elect those who promise to do nothing useful if it compromises their "values." Compromise, of course, is not one of compromisable values.

Our nation needs fixing, and we need it quickly. In a matter of days we will face tax hikes and spending cuts that we imposed on ourselves to ensure that we got a deal done to avoid those tax hikes and spending cuts. This is the best we can do? The first step in fixing America is fixing our political system. I don't know what that is going to take short of voting the entire lot of politicians out of office and starting from scratch. Democracy inaction has gotten to be both an embarrassment and a threat to the future of our country.