Why Our Elected Leaders Fail Us

The list of items that the newly elected Democrats want to investigate Trump seems endless. It's not that Trump should be immune to investigations, that is not the issue here. The issue is that the newly elected Democrats were elected to either pass or reject new legislation. They were elected to exercise a personal vendetta against Trump--and I am writing this as one who strongly opposes Trump.

Of course, the Republicans are no different. Once Obama was elected President, Mitch McConnell's life goal, as well as that of many other Republicans, became to prevent Obama's reelection. And once Trump became President, the stated goal of the Republicans in power was to undo almost everything, if not everything Obama instituted--especially Obamacare.

At this point, it should not be hard to see why our government doesn't work anymore. Our two major political parties are too busy exercising vendettas against each other while employing all-or-nothing thinking. If the Republicans had listed some of Obama's accomplishments as being worthy of preserving or if the Democrats had stated that they were going to investigate only one or two aspects of Trump and his Presidency, then they would be behaving reasonably; but that is not the case.

There are two characteristics of the vendetta thinking exercised by both Republicans and Democrats that disqualify them from legitimately representing the people. the first characteristic is that too many members of both sides have revenge as their first priority. They want to do all that they can to punish their rivals. But when their revals represent so many of America's people, how can they pursue their attack mode posture toward their revals while still representing the people who elected them?

Second, by attacking or planning to attack as many agenda items or personal characteristics as possible, those representatives who do so show that they are exercising all-or-nothing thinking patterns. What is wrong with all-or-nothing thinking? According to one article, the following occurs (click here for the source): 

All-or-nothing thinking is problematic in many ways. It’s limiting and “creates extreme and impossible expectations.”

But worse than that, such thinking is often classified as a cognitive disorder that can contribute to mood disorders and unhealthy behavior. In the end, such thinking distorts reality more often than not (click here and there). Do we really want elected officials who embrace, sometimes passionately, harmful thinking patterns that start to separate its practitioners from reality? Isn't having a President who uses that type of thinking bad enough for our nation? And by imitating what one's opponent does, hasn't one become one's opponent? Such is a legitimate question to ask of both the newly elected Democrats as well and President Trump and his allies.

Should the Democrats spend more time in trying to investigate Trump than they do on passing needed legislation, then they have shown themselves to be no different than the Republicans' whose life goal was to prevent Obama from serving 2 terms as President. And thus another difference between the Republicans and the Democrats fades of into the sunset.

Of course we should note that holding to a 2-Party system fosters such thinking. With having candidates from only two parties, all-or-nothing thinking is reinforced in the minds of Americans. For what the 2-party system forces on the voters is the idea that one must choose between 2 candidates, between the them and not them candidates. Such lays the groundwork for voters to embrace all-or-nothing thinking. And with that comes a greater and greater disconnect for all of the middle ground that often resides between our two choices.

Our political landscape should be declared a federal disaster area. Elections show that, with our limited choices, we keep descending into the depths of ignorance that all-or-nothing thinking fosters. And we citizens have no monopoly on those cognitive problems. Our political leaders willingly show that they have a capacity to passionately embrace a cognitive disorder that limits our thinking, brings mood disorders, and contributes to some of us losing touch with reality.

If the newly elected Democrats want to bring a positive change to our nation's current course of direction, then must limit the number and depth of investigations planned for President Trump in order to work on legislation that is beneficial to the most number of Americans. Nothing else will do.