But They Did It

One of the main comebacks I see when Trump or the administration is criticized or questioned by anyone is that Hillary did that too or Obama did worse or Bill Clinton did it first. Even George W. Bush gets blamed. Almost all his spokespersons bring up Obama when their policies and actions are questioned. My response to that is "so what". Is that how we are to judge the actions of others? Not by a right or wrong test, but by whether someone else did it too. 

Of course, the "everybody is doing it" excuse doesn't hold water. Millions of people are addicted to drugs but that is not a good lifestyle. Millions in Germany followed the Nazis and they killed millions of Jews. Everybody speeds on the freeways but telling that to the cop who pulled you over for speeding won't get you out of a ticket.  

I am not a Trump fan and find fault with most of his policies, methods, and with his personality. Surprise, I also didn't agree with everything Obama, Bush, both Clintons, the other Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, and Nixon have done. Obama made several mistakes and missteps during his administration. George W. Bush got us into an unnecessary war and allowed the economy to crash. Bill Clinton's personal behavior was terrible and some of his policies were disastrous. Hillary made a major mistake with the email mess, was a poor campaigner, and was less than transparent. 

It reminds me of those times during my youth when I wanted to do something or go somewhere. Often the justification was that everybody is going or all my friends can do it. My parents and yours too had the classic comeback "If all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump too?" It wasn't a good excuse or reason many years ago in my youth and it should be even less of a reason or excuse for our politicians now. 

What the country needs now is for my Mom to return to life and set these politicians straight. It shouldn't be necessary since our politicians and government leaders are allegedly adults. I know that is hard to believe sometimes. 

The Republicans were complete obstructionists during most of the Obama administration. They were against everything he did or proposed. They even opposed things they were traditionally in favor of. Now the Democrats are threatening to do the same thing during Trump's administration. Likewise, Congress shouldn't rubber-stamp everything the president wants because he is in your party. Both are wrong. Both are putting party and petty politics above country. 

I have no easy answer for this. At least one party has to begin the healing by agreeing to some cooperation, compromises and stop the revenge. It will take leaders who want unity, not chaos and gridlock. That will only happen when politicians are punished at the ballot box for being completely uncompromising and uncooperative. 

I am not optimistic any meaningful changes will occur in the near future. I am optimistic that if the present deadlock and string of excuses continue, the electorate will eventually revolt and clean house. 

Hopefully, but they did it, will become an unacceptable excuse for all politicians regardless of their party affiliation. 

wjh