Beat Reporting Column Opinion

The following link is to a New York Times article by Nicholas D. Kristof and was posted on April 9, 2011: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10kristof.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

            In this column, Kristof gives a brief description on the state of disagreement that Congress is constantly in and explains why he thinks that it is not beneficial to our country. He begins by calling the government a junior high school and says that the adults are nowhere to be found; a surefire way to make fans of your readers because it seems like no one really likes the government. After all, we are tax paying citizens and as long as we pay taxes, we have a right to complain about every single little thing the ones in charge of our country do.

            It seems like Congress is just a tug of war between Democrats and Republicans without anyone really caring about how our country is run. As long as one side wins at the end of each day, who really cares about the common people, right? How about focusing on problems that affect all of us on a daily basis and fixing them? No, let’s just act like children instead and threaten to close down the government because it will make the Democrats look bad. Doesn’t anyone realize that this affects everyone – Republicans included?!

“In other words, the Republican position is that America faces such a desperate debt crisis that we must throw millions under the bus — yet the result is more debt than if we do nothing.

What does all this mean? That we’re governed by self-absorbed, reckless children.”

            Bravo, Mr. Kristof, bravo. Being a native New Yorker, I am all for some cold-blooded Republican bashing, but seriously, does this statement not sum up the crisis fairly well? It is not just the Republicans that do things like this, but when the president is a Democrat, it is going to show more on the Republican side since they do not have “command” of the country, and they just want to show up the other party.

            Can we all just get together and run this country the way it is supposed to be run? A government that takes care of its people and puts childish squandering to rest.