Politics As Usual At Its Worst

This week in the California Assembly, the Speaker of the Assembly, Karen Bass, punished a fellow Democrat for a dissenting vote on the State budget. The vote that would have failed to carry even with the support of Assemblywoman Nicole Parra has now resulted in the Speaker ordering the offices of Parra be moved to a more remote location to punish Parra for her disobedience. This is the type of petty unprofessional act that demands the resignation of the Speaker from her leadership post in the Assembly.

When dissent becomes punishable freedom becomes tarnished. One of the beautiful things about of America is that we are all allowed to hold our own opinions and vote the way our conscience tells us to vote. Assemblywoman Parra has a long history of supporting her Party and happens to feel that a budget that does not address the needs of her constituents is not something she should support. Despite a history of being loyal to the Party she is now being vilified by her fellow Democrats who have come out in support of the petty move by the Speaker of having Parra’s offices moved outside the Capitol building to a building across the street. In essence she has been kicked out of the "clubhouse" because she happened to disagree on an inconsequential vote that did not hinge on her vote anyway.

This type of rash reactionary action on the part of Karen Bass brings into question not only her ability to hold her Party together but also if she is mature enough to be the voice of her Party in Sacramento. People within Bass’ district in Los Angeles need to ask themselves if that is the type of leadership they want representing their values. Do they raise their children to deal with dissent with anger and aggressive action or do they tell them to follow the teachings of their faith and philosophy and deal with conflict in a rational adult manner? If they want someone who uses petty tactics to knock down people who disagree with her then she is the one for them. If they want a mature and thoughtful leader who follows the way of faith and peace then they need to find another candidate.

Chances are when all is said and done the people of her district will not even notice and she will continue to spread her petty immature brand of politics around Sacramento but it is sad to think that our leaders are so childish that they will still kick someone out of the “clubhouse” because they thought differently from them on a single issue. Even sadder is that the person being punished is being punished for actually trying to represent the people who elected her to office before the Party with which she is affiliated. We have come to the place in our history where trying to do the right thing for the people who elected you to office can lead to punishment by the Party you chose to support when running for office. It seems that Party politics are all about “What have you done for me lately?” instead of being about overcoming differences for the good of the people.

Whatever your Party, you should be wary of actions like those taken by Assembly Speaker Bass. The smashing of dissent with harsh punishment is the mindset that leads to fascism and totalitarian systems of government. Healthy dissent is at the heart of a strong democracy. If we lose the ability to choose outside of A or B, we lose the ability to think for ourselves and when we lose that we are no longer free. In one felled swoop we transform from citizens to subjects and from free thinkers to mindless automatons. That is not what America is supposed to be about.

Troy Wilson-Ripsom - Staff Writer | Give your feedback on this article. | Click icon to Digg this article

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