The Brits Have It!
In case you weren’t paying attention, know that our British brethren – those good people who gave us our native tongue – have just held an election.
In case you weren’t paying attention, know that our British brethren – those good people who gave us our native tongue – have just held an election.
Despite reading several newspapers from London every day, I’m not entirely up to speed on their electoral cycle or system.
The best I can derive is that they hold an election whenever people get pissed off at the current administration.
Anyway, there were three candidates for Prime Minister: incumbent Gordon Brown of the Labour (I love how they add that “u”) Party; challenger David Cameron, Conservative Party; and, upstart Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg.
After the votes had been tallied, no contender had a distinct majority. Unlike the U.S., where a president might win with a plurality, in the U.K. it is required to have received at least 51% of the vote.
According to their “unwritten Constitution,” as best as I can decipher.
I don’t understand the specifics of the final selection process, but for whatever reason Mr. Clegg was allowed to decide who would become PM.
He selected Mr. Cameron; Mr. Clegg then hired on as Deputy PM. Thus, Mr. Brown was consigned to vacate his digs at 10 Downing Street.
However all that worked out is not what I am writing about today.
What I find fascinating is the aplomb by which the new government is taking shape.
Imagine if we had a Democratic president and a Republican vice-president. That is essentially what the Brits have now, or shall have once the new PM officially takes office.
These two political opponents, Cameron and Clegg, have entered into what they refer to as an era of “new politics”; they are agreed to work together as a coalition government.
All for the sake of a better future for Great Britain.
Imagine that! Leaders from both sides of the “aisle” working in harmony to move their country forward out of the doldrums.
This agreement has resulted in enough Members of Parliament for the Liberal Democrats to be a potent force in British Government for the first time in 70 years.
Beyond that ascertainment, I really can’t go into further depth. I don’t understand the machinations and nuances of British governance enough to elucidate with any expertise on precisely what the nuts and bolts of this congruence entail.
From what I can deduce, even your typical Englishman isn’t real clear on how the process works.
I am playing with a handicap at a game those good folks have lived with all their lives.
It is as if I brought a baseball bat to a cricket match…
My point, and please accept my apology for taking so long to get around to it, is simply this: Members of Congress, both the House and the Senate, need to check their egos and personal agenda at the door when entering their respective chambers and work together.
Take a lesson from our former overseers.
Despite the best efforts of President Obama to work harmoniously for the good of the Nation, he has been stymied at every juncture, not just by Republicans, but self-interested Democrats as well.
You people on The Hill are bringing down America with your whining and pissing and moaning about every freakin’ little obscure fine point within each and every bill or initiative.
Work together, for crying out loud! If the bill passes and proves to be a failure, you can always enact a countermeasure.
Because of several bold visionaries America was at the onset, and remains, a grand experiment. Great Britain is now, thanks to a pair of visionaries, entering into its own grand experiment.
Wouldn’t it be grand if our elected “leaders” pushed aside their own self-interests and just engaged in some lawmaking?
To all Congresspersons and Senators, pull your heads out of your (or each other’s) asses and move America forward.
Sheesh!
Shalom.
(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator. A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast. Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)
