by Daniel Nardini
In a move that has become de rigueur for U.S. President Barack Obama, he is going to simply ignore the U.S. Congress and start issuing executive orders on chipping away at the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Among his executive orders will be making it easier for U.S. citizens to go travel to Cuba. While I have no problem for it being made easier for U.S. citizens to be able to go to Cuba without prior permission, how Obama is handling it will only make it harder for him to deal with the U.S. Congress on anything. It may become fashionable for people on the political left to simply try and not follow the checks and balances of what is the infrastructure of the functions of the U.S. government, but this will in the end work against not only trying to find compromise but also infuriate the other side to do the same.
The political left in the Democratic Party finds it easier for them to ignore, subvert and outright undercut the legislative process to get something. Getting rid of the U.S. embargo against Cuba is the latest on the list. The U.S. embargo was passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President of the United States a long time ago. Removing it might make sense, except that as far as I can see it has to be done by both the U.S. Congress and the President. Going about it any other way will only make it easier for the extreme political rightwing in the U.S. Congress to gain sympathy and for the whole Republican Party in the U.S. Congress to lash out at Obama later on this or another issue. And so, we have deadlocked government again. Extremist politics only find extremist politics on the other side. Have we learned nothing of this from the 1990’s?
In 2017, when the next president takes office, that person may simply ignore or subvert the will of the U.S. Congress as well. this is an especially dangerous thing because our U.S. Constitution makes it very clear that the three branches of government must work together for this country to run. When one branch starts to take on more power, then it opens the door for abuse of power, and for more extreme people to start driving our country into the ground. If a rightwing Republican wins, then that person will simply ignore the Democrats. If a Democrat wins, then that person will care less about working with the Republicans. Blame is easy, trying to find common ground is hard. But it is also necessary. We have to try and keep this country together, and try to find some middle ground where we can all in one way or another agree. A nation divided eventually kills itself.
Leftwing-Rightwing Slugfest
by Daniel Nardini
In a move that has become de rigueur for U.S. President Barack Obama, he is going to simply ignore the U.S. Congress and start issuing executive orders on chipping away at the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Among his executive orders will be making it easier for U.S. citizens to go travel to Cuba. While I have no problem for it being made easier for U.S. citizens to be able to go to Cuba without prior permission, how Obama is handling it will only make it harder for him to deal with the U.S. Congress on anything. It may become fashionable for people on the political left to simply try and not follow the checks and balances of what is the infrastructure of the functions of the U.S. government, but this will in the end work against not only trying to find compromise but also infuriate the other side to do the same.
The political left in the Democratic Party finds it easier for them to ignore, subvert and outright undercut the legislative process to get something. Getting rid of the U.S. embargo against Cuba is the latest on the list. The U.S. embargo was passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President of the United States a long time ago. Removing it might make sense, except that as far as I can see it has to be done by both the U.S. Congress and the President. Going about it any other way will only make it easier for the extreme political rightwing in the U.S. Congress to gain sympathy and for the whole Republican Party in the U.S. Congress to lash out at Obama later on this or another issue. And so, we have deadlocked government again. Extremist politics only find extremist politics on the other side. Have we learned nothing of this from the 1990’s?
In 2017, when the next president takes office, that person may simply ignore or subvert the will of the U.S. Congress as well. this is an especially dangerous thing because our U.S. Constitution makes it very clear that the three branches of government must work together for this country to run. When one branch starts to take on more power, then it opens the door for abuse of power, and for more extreme people to start driving our country into the ground. If a rightwing Republican wins, then that person will simply ignore the Democrats. If a Democrat wins, then that person will care less about working with the Republicans. Blame is easy, trying to find common ground is hard. But it is also necessary. We have to try and keep this country together, and try to find some middle ground where we can all in one way or another agree. A nation divided eventually kills itself.