A Political Earthquake - The People's Seat

How ironic last night that the news coverage was alternating between the tragedy in Haiti and the coverage of the senate race in Massachusetts. Both are seismic events on the landscape, one in Haiti and the other in America. Both must be addressed and tended too with speed and care. Both have long term ramifications for this hemisphere and the world.

I believe that Brown, in his campaign, captured the heart of the issue in American politics right now, when he dubbed this "the People's Seat." That is the missing piece in our experience of government, and it has been for some time. The system is broken because elected officials have forgotten a key component of its underpinnings: servanthood. They are public "servants", not masters, as has been seen of late. It is "We the People" who form the foundation of government in this country, and when the people are marginalized as a whole in the process, the process needs to come to a halt. It needs to be overhauled and redirected to the common good.

My prayer today is that that process can begin. No one disagrees that our health care system needs fixing, but how? Not by throwing it out and ushering in socialized medicine. Let's come back to the drawing board, work together and come up with a fix (or several) for the current system, that works for the majority of Americans now. We know what needs to be done, lets just do it. Let there be an end to cronyism, closed door meetings and quid-pro-quo in legislation that effects our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren! Business as usual has got to stop. We need all the thinking heads coming and working together, not tearing each other apart.

Just remember the by-word: Servanthood. As a governing body, you sit in 'The People's seats" - every one of you. You are and must remain, firstly, public servants. All else will follow on from that and we can make a new start in rebuilding a government, "of the people, by the people and for the people."

IMHO,
Padre Phil+