Immigrant children separated from their families need leaders in Washington who are willing to go beyond partisan goals and make effective changes.
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By Carly Fiorina, USA TODAY
Newton’s Cradle is a common fixture in a corporate office. It is the desk toy where someone drops a little metallic ball on a string and it hits the others, sending the one on the opposite end swinging. As this is happening, there is plenty of energy spent and exchanged — and a lot of visible motion — but at the end, there they hang again. Motionless. Exactly where they started. Lots of energy spent, but no change.
Washington, D.C., is a lot like that, and it has been for quite a while. When politicians are faced with a problem, someone on one end riles up energy and creates a commotion. That sends the folks on the other end into a similar frenzy, and the back and forth begins. It can be entertaining to watch and listen. All of the activity feels productive. Then, we end up back where we started: nothing solved.
What has gone on at our southern border is unacceptable, un-Christian and un-American; and it’s been going on for a while. Long before this month’s swarm of cameras headed to the border, we have been watching the back and forth, and a situation that is inconsistent with our traditions, values and best interests.
Don’t forget, Washington has had many opportunities to fix this problem.
From 2005-2007, Senators from both sides of the aisle got together on at least 3 occasions to put forward a fix. The bills contained imperfect solutions, but they took steps to rectify the chaos, boost border security, and increase the criminal punishment for unlawfully crossing the border. President Bush was at the table, and the extremes from both parties walked away.
In 2013, a group of 8 bipartisan Senators again came up with a proposal. It was also imperfect, but allocated unprecedented sums of money and added 40,000 agents to help secure the border. It set solid metrics for reduced numbers of crossings, and it proposed answers to the important question of how to handle undocumented immigrants already in our country. It passed the Senate with 68 bipartisan votes, and House Republicans refused to take it up. President Obama, who had been at the negotiating table, turned to executive action, which is, of course, an unideal, temporary, and often-unlawful route.
Within the last year, this administration promised a fix for the DREAMers with no results. Instead: inaction, obstruction, and cowardice. We’ve seen despicableseparation of families at the border while Members of Congress have gone to their corners and pointed fingers.
Obama campaigned on helping immigrants, and these camps were largely populated under his watch. Trump promised us something “beautiful” on the border, while his own Cabinet has made the problem worse, and has resorted to negotiating with the lives of children. This inhumane and cruel failure has plenty of blame to go around, so we should acknowledge that and move toward solutions.
The truth is that the immigration issue, like so many other issues, is a manifestation of a larger problem. For generations, political parties have cared more about winning than anything else. If we’re being honest, festering problems help parties win; in other words, they don’t want a fix. When politicians have a hot button issue, each of them use it masterfully to rile up their base while people suffer. The longer this drags on, the more publicity, clicks, TV hits, photo ops, protests, and money they get.
This isn't isn’t just the case regarding immigration. Whether it is health care, the VA, entitlements, debt and deficit reduction or school safety, both parties have long promised answers, both parties have long pointed fingers, and both parties have long failed.
In George Washington’s farewell address, he clearly urges us to beware the rise of political parties, because they will come to care only about winning, and they won’t care about governing, problem solving or values.
He was right. There are good individuals in politics; but the political system they are a part of, driven by the two major parties, values winning above all else — almost at any cost. The system preserves itself.
Leadership and problem-solving require looking to the future and remembering who politicians are elected to serve.
When the government cannot perform its most basic duties, people begin to lose trust. This lack of faith can be corrosive to a democracy, and that corrosion has already become evident. We are a compassionate nation, and one that believes in fairness. These things are not mutually exclusive, and if we take out the hyperbole and the election-season frenzy, we may be able to find that balance, that common ground. It will require less talk and more true leadership.
It will also require citizens to lead and reject our current political culture. Sure, the Newton’s Cradle can be fun to watch, but it’s a gimmicky toy. If we truly care about solving problems, it may be time to cut a few of those strings.
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