Political games don't serve the people

Republicans suffered a significant defeat in the 2008 elections. Democrats picked up eight seats in the Senate, twenty-one in the House, and decisively won the White House. This rejection of ideology should have created some type of re-evaluation of positions. Instead, we see minority rule and a profusion of semantic techniques designed to devalue new initiatives.

The main technique is called framing, the use of language that spins a given phrase in an intended direction.

Health care reform was derailed by framing that led many to believe that measures aimed at improving access to health care were socialist techniques to control us.

Efforts to derail the president's efforts continue. Dissatisfaction certainly exists for a public hungry for problem-solving. Yet, we shouldn't allow ourselves to be convinced that nothing good has happened or that the president is acting in any way other than as a pragmatic politician. Regardless of the portrayal, the economy crashed before this president took office. The drop in employment in 2009 was less than in 2008. A 4,000-point loss in the Dow in 2008 was followed by a 2,000-point gain in 2009. Mortgage relief and credit card regulation were addressed, SCHIP was renewed and expanded, a bill passed to reduce no-bid defense contracts and cost overruns, an extensive public lands management act passed, and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became law.

Republicans continue to obstruct progressive legislation. The response to 2008's political shift was not to return to true conservative ideals and convince us of their value, but rather to discredit anything done by the opposition. We lose in this kind of political gamesmanship. We elect politicians and not saints, but we expect them to respect truth and serve the nation first.

David Troland

Arlington Heights