The Alamo Principle – Standing Up Against All Odds

When was the last time you remember a politician standing up for a position that he/she knew was going to cost them their elected office. Oh, and I don’t mean the ones who have refused to “go gently into that good night” (Dylan Thomas) when they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar. You may remember SC-Governor Mark Sanford or NV- Senator John Ensign as having recent fidelity behavioral issues, or Jack Abramoff and assorted officials and legislators that were involved in a vast array of bribery and other monetarily illicit activities, and very recently in the news Congressman Charles Rangel has had some difficulties with understanding the U.S tax system despite his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. Don’t consider these poor souls as uniquely due to be ostracized by us upstanding and honest citizens; there are orders of magnitudes more members from the federal, state and local ranks of politicians that are august members of this club of disreputable, deceiving, degenerate delegates. And somehow we managed to elect each and every one of them to office. With such a proven record of accomplishments, I think that the voting population has a lot of explaining to do. But this is not the point of today’s tidbit.

It is not the dregs of the political process that I am seeking, it is the cream. The stalwart champions of America’s promise that I want to see stepping forward and leading the fight for what is fair, just and compassionate for our civic welfare and common good. A search for our guardian of government who pursues their responsibilities to serve their oath of office even under the fatal risk of their vocal and vicious opposition seizing their effort as a club with which to beat them into the ground. Attacks that are not focused on anything more than the opportunity to displace them from their office in order to take up the power of their office to serve their own ends, not to serve the public.

And we, the public, lap up the hate and lies offered up as party doctrine or righteous fervor of some vapid adherence to a conservative, liberal, or radical philosophy. We react to our base fear that because we do not understand the complexity of the problem that we may lose something and therefore we must first protect ourselves.

Health Care Reform is desired by the majority of Americans. Why then are the politicians unable to stand up and stand together to find a workable approach? They can’t because they forgot the Alamo Principle. There are situations and times when you have to stand up, stand your ground, and go down fighting; knowing that you are going to go down. And surprisingly, those times are always now. There are always reasons to stand up and fight for your country. But politics and politicians have infected the pubic and the politicians with me versus you, and us versus them positions that create fear. A fear that is rooted in nothing that is consistent with American ideals or American values; but that is undemocratic and corrosive to our lives, liberties and pursuit of happiness. Fear that is unproductive and destructive to our interests and common welfare.