It strikes me that there is a similarity between the members of Light Brigade described in the third stanza of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem and American citizens who are facing rigid ideology within our dysfunctional political system. Cannons are limited to a fixed line-of-fire and rigid ideology is fixed to a specific idea. In our political situation, the stanza might read:
Ideology to the right of them,
Ideology to the left of them,
Ideology in front of them,
Rigid & unflinching;
Fighting with sound bite and blame.
The Light Brigade and the citizens of the United States were/are obliged to follow the orders given without much opportunity for challenge or change.
It is not the ideology that is causing all our dysfunction. No, it is the rigidity with which that ideology is practiced that is our problem. It is also interesting that the rigidity is a betrayal of the minority in every Congressional District of our United States of America.
Our elected officials are supposed to represent the interests of all their constituents. They must do their best to find the will of the majority of their constituents, but they also know some of your constituents hold a different position on the issue at hand. Therefore, if they take a rigid stance based on the majority, they are betraying the interests of the minority within their constituency.
As an elected official, their goal is to hammer out a compromise that best reflects the will of all their constituents – a compromise
that falls somewhere between the majority and the minority views of their constituents. If they want to do a good job as an elected official, the hours are long, the work is hard, the soul searching is endless, and the thanks are few.
“E Pluribus Unum” it is stamped on our coins and we all know that it is Latin for “From Many One”, but the phrase seems to be meaningless for the rigid ideologues in congress. They can be found on both sides of the aisle and they follow a motto more like E Pluribus Me. They’re not interested in what the majority thinks or want. No, they’re only interested in what they want. They make every effort to portray themselves as standing on the moral high ground, but they decide where the moral high ground is.
The Sausage Grinder is Broken – will you help to fix it?
Comment here or send and email: abrokensausagegrinder@comcast.net
More via Facebook: A Broken Sausage Grinder
More via Twitter: HankThomas