Do something

I don't know about you, but I've taken note of the phrase "do something," signifying the public's disappointment with the lack of action by our political leaders on the issue of gun control and prevention of mass shootings (and I know, they're two different issues).  This is the mantra now, much as "we call BS" became the rallying cry of the Parkland kids and those who worked directly with them.  And I have just one thing to say about it:

It's about time.

I didn't watch much of it, but there was a multipart documentary on MSNBC over the past several Sundays called "American Swamp," and it detailed various aspects of why and how our political system has become what it is today.  While I viewed about twenty minutes of the first episode, I saw promotional messages for each succeeding episode.  The final one apparently dealt with infrastructure, and how our crumbling roads and bridges are unfortunate but that we probably shouldn't expect Congress to do anything about it.  In the promo I saw for this last installment, there was a politician who actually said on camera that "ultimately there is no penalty for doing nothing."

Wow.

And that's really the problem.  The pressure to raise campaign funds is apparently never-ending, and especially pressure-filled for Congressmen who serve a two-year term before being compelled to seek reelection.  And we all know how long political races seem to last these days.  So members of Congress have to put their efforts into staying there more than making the most of their time there.

DO SOMETHING.

I find that to be true in everyday life, obviously.  We can't change our circumstances by simply waiting for them to change, we have to take control of our situations and cause change to happen.  I'm not in a position to have to put forth so much effort to retain a job that I can't DO my job, luckily, but neither should these citizen-legislators be, either.  I don't think it's a stretch to say that political office has become a career, rather than a call to serve, so that is as much the problem as anything.

But I have to say, I love it when people show up to a town hall put on by a sitting Senator or Congressman and when they begin the typical doubletalk about what we need to consider instead of the most direct solution, the mantra begins....

DO SOMETHING.