lack of political will

The 2008 financial crisis was an “avoidable” disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, according to the conclusions of a Congressional inquiry.

The report will probably reignite debate over the outsize influence of Wall Street; it says that regulators “lacked the political will” to scrutinize and hold accountable the institutions they were supposed to oversee. The financial sector spent $2.7 billion on lobbying from 1999 to 2008, while individuals and committees affiliated with the industry made more than $1 billion in campaign contributions. (New York Times)

I am curious, perhaps more angry than curious, but curious is a neutral kind of word, as to why the term ‘lacked political will’ is tolerated in this Nation. How many years did our elected representatives lack political will before they looked at their conscience and said slavery was wrong, looked inward and said women deserve the same benefits as men, that if people of two separate races want to marry no one has the right to deny that opportunity.

Why does it take political will instead of human kindness, religious goodness, Constitutional courage to approach all Americans as equals? Why must we look at the fringe of our community cater to their bigotry and bias before we look at the common good and consider quality as the means to equality?

Our democracy becomes more fragile when we ask our politicians to find differences in our society then consensus among us. Our democracy becomes less reliable when discussion is observed as dissent, intent as interference and fact replaced with fiction and fallacy. And our democracy becomes useless when those we elect lack any political will to do the right thing for all instead of the right thing for those who pay high bribes to make a select few happy and happier.

Regulations we are told by the Republican/Tea Bag Brigade make America a Socialist nation, a Communist state. We are told that the more the Government establishes regulations the less rights the average American receives. We are told that regulations hurt. But somehow as we are told less is better, we still suffer the consequences of high Health Care costs if you are lucky enough to be granted the right to buy insurance, Corporations racking in huge profits as the average American struggles to pay their bills, oil spills, reeking havoc, while Oil Cartel profits don’t go for safety features, and houses being foreclosed while the Financial Institutions pay high bonuses to their CEO’s.

We are told regulations are the bane of human existence in America and that we are free to express ourselves as Americans any which way we choose. But if you choose to have an abortion, or marry someone of the same sex, you are a criminal and need Government restrictions.

And most recently we are warned that any restriction on gun control will motivate this nation to implode, and that the American way will disappear. We are told we need no restrictions on gun ownership and to say so is so Un-American. We are told it is not the gun that kills but the wrong person holding the gun. We are told that as many magazines as needed for your gun is not the problem, but the wrong person buying three extra magazines is the problem. We are told it is not the Christian way to ask for gun regulations, and say it must be an anti Christian who abuses his/her gun.

We will listen to the President give his State of the Union speech tonight, then hear the opposition parties response and for the first time ever hear the opposition to the opposition party provide their take on the nation. We will hear three points of view on matters that have great consequences good and bad for all Americans. We will witness a whole lot of ‘political will’ by the people, of the people for the people, or we will watch in horror the ‘lack of political will’ serving the select few who prefer little regulation for the majority and a whole lot of reward for the few.