With the federal shutdown still in effect because of the impasse that remains between Democrats and Republicans, hundreds of thousands of federal employees who either now face “payless paydays” or the threat of losing their jobs, have reasons to be concerned.
But even those who are not federal employees are anxious as we are beginning to witness those who have been elected to Congress display their inability to lead and come together effectively.
Regardless of their political swaying, elected officials should remember that both voters, and their children– the next generation of voters– are watching and listening to them.
That said, shouting matches like the one that recently occurred on Capitol Hill as Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) confronted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) over a bipartisan compromise on federal funding, are poor examples of those who profess to be our leaders.
Further, the frequency with which elected leaders continue to engage in finger-pointing or referring to the actions of past administrations to justify their policies and decisions made today benefit no one.
On Sunday, Oct. 12, when Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) were asked by “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker about their recommendations to work through the federal shutdown, neither offered reasonable responses.
Instead, they both referred to decisions made by former presidents Obama and Biden and the Democratic Party as the reason they are allegedly following paths from the past.
The problem with this should be evident – Americans have little time to walk down memory lane and allow officials to correct or be influenced by chapters in U.S. history that have been written and closed. Not with how tenuous life has become for Americans.
Effective leaders are committed to collaboration, finding ways to connect with others, being creative to find solutions to problems, ensuring that they inspire confidence and rely on credible information to support their views and actions, and employing critical thinking – that is, evaluating the reliability and breadth of information while mentally projecting proposed solutions into the future with minimal bias.
We should all be urging our leaders — beginning with, but not limited to, the White House — to abandon their quest for securing “the big payback.”
In James Brown’s hit song “The Payback,” he announces his plan for revenge against a man who betrayed him. That was fiction, and should be left there.
Americans are sorely in need of a few good, effective leaders, and given the situation we face today, we don’t care if they’re far left, far right, or just “far out.”