The federal government has shut down all non-essential services. The reason, of course, is that Congress and the President cannot agree on a continuing resolution to pay the bills. While each side points fingers at the other, what really is the problem? There are actually two problems causing this situation. One can be handled in a short time period while the other will likely take much longer. The first is that in a representative Democracy, which is what we practice here in the U.S., we elect people to represent the views of the majority of the people. This is done when we elect members of the House of Representatives every two years, Senators every six years and the President every four years. In each instance the individuals we elect are supposed to provide leadership. The leadership starts with the President. There are numerous definitions for leadership but most of them define a leader as someone who can show the way to reach a goal, or to guide or direct. A leader should also be able to motivate others to follow in the direction that he sees, or the vision that he has. A leader can resolve conflict by bringing the opposing parties together to find mutually acceptable solutions. By that broad definition, President Obama is failing to provide the leadership that the majority of the people elected him to provide. In the current budget stalemate, he has done more to separate the sides than to unite them. He should, as past Presidents like Bill Clinton or Lyndon Johnson did, bring the opposing parties together with the idea of "seeking a solution" rather than his current course of action where he tries to "sell a position." The primary cause of the budget problems today and the likely problems with the debt ceiling in the coming weeks, is a lack of leadership from the person that we selected to be the top leader. If the President decides to lead, the current budget problems can be resolved relatively quickly.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 00:05:31 +0000
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