Sixteen days of high drama in Washington have finally ended. The world was riveted as its most powerful nation washed its dirty laundry in public.
Yes, the United States of America was on government furlough. Of course, the country’s military was up and running. That’s why North Korea did not get any ideas; Olympus was not falling anytime soon. In certain capitals, I am sure there must have been laughter all round about the mess that was happening in the USA.
But I think there were lessons to be learned from all this. It was as much a test that spoke of the maturity of a democracy as well as its callowness.
Can you imagine something like that happening in Beijing? Think about it, if in the run up to the 2008 Olympics, if opposition had risen against the Communist Party. Dissent would have been quashed immediately. And indeed it was. There were people who tried to take advantage of the situation to highlight Tibetan’s demands for independence. They tried to do this during the Olympic torch relay around the world. They got nowhere. It was never going to happen. The lessons of Tiananmen were there. China was anxious to show their best face forward at the Olympics. The execution of the games was flawless from security to media coverage.
Government by crisis is actually a more common thing than you might imagine it. The Europeans are actually quite adept at it. God knows, the Italians have had more than 60 governments since World War II. One the chief guests for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference this year was supposed to be Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
He instead addressed us via video conference. He made a little joke about how, if we thought governing in Washington with two parties was a pain; we should try governing in Israel. The Prime Minister’s Likud party had just lost its majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. He had to stay in Tel Aviv to cobble some semblance of a coalition out of the numerous parties.
What about the rest of the world. They might have been laughing at all this. They might have been asking why those guys couldn’t get their act together. Well, they can learn something from this. Before they cast the first stone, they should look at the beautiful thing that is happening in Washington.
Americans might not think it, but come on, the House Republicans did not agree with the President. So what did they do? They threatened to shut the federal government and they did. They stormed the capital. Not with guns or weapons – just words. There was no secret militia made of Tea Party members – although sometimes I think Tea Party zealots like Alex Jones wish there was something to that effect.
I mean with all the assault weapons being traded now legally. Yes, the federal government is shut down but the Republic will endure. It won’t be like Julius Caesar who having disagreed with the Senate decided to march with his Army to Rome. I can imagine this happening in certain parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The federal government shutdown just shows how democracy is supposed to work. I am rather jealous of America. The Federal government was down but the Republic endured.
Democracy is really a dictatorship by the majority, but sometimes as in a representative democracy, a minority can gain a foothold. Yes, Michelle Bachmann, Fox News and the Tea Party crackpots deserve to have their views aired. And because they talk loudly people confuse that with making sense.
The government shutdown was a hostage crisis. The Tea Party rode into town at high noon. Having shown John Boehner who was boss, they took a look around and got down to business. Their main target of course was President Barack Obama. He was in the White House despite being born in Kenya. They would retake their country and restore America’s greatness once more. Obamacare was going to hightail out of town.
I think the test of maturity is not to be afraid to reveal the truth. The business of government is supposed to be dirty. It is not easy to get fifty senators to agree or 435 representatives to agree. We are supposed to wash our dirty laundry in public. Democracies only work when governments are open as much as about their agreements as well as disagreements.
So things were not that bad in Washington. Things fell apart for a time but the center held. After a time, government in Washington will become a sport that a majority of people will find interesting once in a while but mainly stop paying attention to – like golf.
