Integrity

Integrity

That’s what bothers me.  Integrity.

Politics kills people’s integrity.

People I care about.  

People who I otherwise like and trust.

Democrats.  Republicans.  Friends that I like.  I care about them.  I don’t care about their politics.

I have friends on both sides.  Their politics are not a friendship test to me.

I could drop my wallet and know they’d give it back with no money missing.

I know I could leave my child with them and they’d keep her safe.

I  trust their integrity in many things.

But, open the politics door, and integrity flies out the window.

Why can’t my Democrat friends look at the Affordable Health Care Act and say, “It was wrong to use the tactics that were used, it was wrong to pile so much stuff in there, and it was wrong to pass something that wasn’t even read; my side was wrong.”?  No, they hoot and holler, cheering “My side won, screw you Republicans!”

Why can’t my Republican friends say, “There are people in dire need who cannot get insurance and suffer because of that.  We collectively must do something to help, and that may mean some sort of government involvement.”?  No, they stomp and fuss and compare the President to a dictator.

OR,

 

Why do the Republicans who wholeheartedly supported George Bush in all he did, including the war in Iraq, fuss about Barack Obama in Libya and Syria?

And the Democrats who hated all that George Bush was and were angry about Iraq, but have no complaint about Libya and Syria?

OR,

Why do Democrats excoriate the Republicans for balking on raising the debt ceiling and shutting down the government when President Obama voted precisely that way seven years ago during the Bush administration?

Why did the very Republicans who supported raising it in the past, suddenly care about the cost to our children’s future?

Why is it always the other group’s fault for not being willing to give something in compromise when your own side draws similar lines? 

 

Why does party loyalty remove all sense of honesty that your party doesn’t get it all right?

Perhaps this is why each side hates each other so?  A person who has compromised their own principals over politics, recognizes that same character in his opponent.

Where are the people of honor who can call out their own side?

Where are the ones with character enough to call out what’s right on the other side?

Where’s your integrity?

Signed,

A Modern Diogenes