Stock photo from FoterBy Matt Jackson, Contributing Writer
After months of television spots that consisted mainly of annoying attack ads, the 2014 election season has come to a dramatic end. This election was an important one, particularly for the Bluegrass State. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell not only won a surprising reelection over Democratic opponent Alison Lundergen Grimes, he also set himself in place to become the new Senate Majority Leader after the Republican Party gained a majority in the House.
With the Republican Party now having a majority power in both Congress and the Senate, it would seem as if they could easily accomplish the conservative agenda they will set forth. However, with the highest power in the land still being held by a very liberal President Obama, the opposition they will face is sure to be great.
Senator Mitch McConnell expressed his hope that the Senate and the President could work in harmony with each other. These feelings seem to be less than reciprocated by the President, who stated that he would not compromise on the agenda he has already set in place. Thus, the government split is left as it has been for an extended period now. While a split government has worked in the past during the Reagan and Clinton administrations, it is unlikely to work in the current situation. The difference between then and now is that both the Republican and Democratic parties are represented largely by party extremist in their respective branches of the government.
What the American voting public cannot seem to comprehend is that bipartisan leadership is largely dead in the current U.S. government. Since the George W. Bush administration, the American public has been sending mixed messages about which party of the government they wish to represent them. Much of the conflicting voting agenda is due to the opposing opinions of the Northern and Southern regions of the United States. However, if this pattern of gridlock in Washington continues to occur, America is going to be stuck with a government that accomplishes very little.
Due to the public’s voting record over the past decade, the elected government has pressed forward an agenda that largely prevents our generation from becoming the next great one. History repeats itself, and I truly believe that our generation of young Americans is in line to inherit the status that the 1950’s has for so long held. Economically, we are coming out of a recession that greatly resembles the one that occurred following the Great Depression. Politically speaking, the main leaders of the two generations, Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama, greatly resemble each other in policy. We are also coming out of a wartime atmosphere similar to that of the 1940’s.
Therefore, if this generation is to be the next great one, it is time for the American public to play its part in setting it in place. Democrat or Republican, we cannot expect the two parties to work together when us, the voters, are so divided. Our conflicting agendas are getting our government nowhere. This is an opporunity to unite as Americans and as a generation, and thus bring greatness back into America.
