RS6 - Cliffhanger

As I listened to the Cliffhanger, the Frontline presentation of the fiscal cliff and the events that led up to it, I realized one thing.  Politics is a lot more about personal gain rather then making decisions that will be for the good of the people. A perfect example is the fiscal cliff, as the end of the fiscal cliff approached, December 31st, the Republicans and the Democrats could not come to an agreement to solve the situation.  If the fiscal cliff expired without a deal being made the United States would not be able to pay its bills, thus sending it potentially into a depression. 

In the video it explained how John Boehner was meeting with President Obama in secret behind closed doors trying to make a deal just between the two of them because in their eyes the deal had to be made. The secret meetings took place because Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan were coming out and saying how ridiculous President Obama was being due to the fact that he wanted to increase taxes while we are in a recession, they were attacking him because of the fact that he continues to want to spend more money then the United States actually has making it take out loans and having to borrow money.  But with the fiscal cliff approaching they had little to no time to make a deal so they could not wait much longer so the two met in private.  This just shows how self centered someone can be by potentially affecting millions over the fact that two parties cannot agree on certain topics.  It is all about wins and loses for the two parties and who can come out on top.  They are always trying to find flaws in the opposing parties arguments, instead of coming together and making a decision that will benefit everyone. 

I realize that dealing with someone with different views and opinions will be difficult, but at some point you have to come to realize that you just have to swallow your pride and come together as one to make things work between two opposite groups.  And if you look at congress, whichever democratic party has more members for the most part will run the house and make the decisions because they own the vote.  If you own the vote then you have the power to make changes to fit your party’s views and specifications.  When it comes down to big decisions you never can tell if it will be a confident correct decision because the vote will always be split.  You need to have congress be full of people who will vote either way and not side with one party over the other because some peoples vote is just made in order to suit their party and may not suit their personal opinion.  So all in all I believe that politics is more of a popularity contest then making decisions to benefit the people of the country.