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You may occasionally hear someone say something like "They go to Washington and are all the same." I don't know this for a fact but I'd guess when freshman senators or representatives get to Washington, they are given nonpartisan reports like this one other topics as well, such as the importance of world trade to the American worker. Once they see what is actually going on in the world they realize why some things are done the way they are or the importance of certain things. There are plenty of things in Washington to be partisan about. I hesitate to give an example because I think people will get real excited on both sides of any naturally partisan issue I use as an example. Different basic philosophies about the balance of freedoms and constraints that enable us to live as civilized people or basic philosophical differences on causes and effect.
I think most of the people we elect and send to Washington are basically intelligent people that really care about the American people. It is not that they don't have character flaws. Would anyone even consider running for one of those offices if they did not have a huge ego? You have to enjoy being the center of attention. There may be control and power issues that a psychiatrist would find interesting. There are basic differences in world view, but I think most won't deliberately do something that clearly harms the country or the people in it. And when they get to Washington, they meet people, those dreaded insiders, that have lived with these issues and understand the ramifications of the different actions. It's much like I want a professional, not an amateur, performing surgery on me; I want a professional involved in diplomacy. The potential consequences are too great to leave it totally in the hands of an amateur, not matter how well intentioned they are.
Why don't they educate us on some if these things? In my opinion, we, the public, won't let them. Part of it is that everything is so interconnected that a decent explanation would be boring to a whole lot of people. Many of us are just not interested. We only see our little cocoons and don't even want to think about anything else. Some people already know it all and don't need any further education. I think sound bites has a lot to do with it too. In any decent explanation, you are going to say something that is unpopular. There are plenty of professionals in politics (Their job is to get party members elected or reelected. Nothing else matters) that will jump on a statement, take it out of context, and flash it all over the media regardless of the harm it will do. A politician has to be very careful in what they say or they are so involved with controversy they have trouble doing their job, let alone getting reelected. Let a politician say "We need to take an honest look at both Social Security benefits and taxes to come up with a solution." They have immediately lost the AARP vote next election or they will get so hammered by it that they give up on taking an honest look at the problem.
You may have noticed how civilized the handing over of the gavel was in the House. Partisan politics demonizes the opposition, yet they professionally handed over the gavel. When a politician loses a reelection bid, no matter how bitter the campaign, they almost always offer to assist the incoming politician in making that transition and the incoming politician usually accepts that offer. There is a big difference in campaigning and governing. Most are intelligent enough to understand the difference.
What is the most interesting thing you got out of the JOE, or should I say, the thing that most surprised you? For me, I think it was the concept that India will become one of the next superpowers and some of the implications of that. India is seen as a natural ally of the US with the potential of becoming a stabilizing force in their area of influence, Africa and a lot of Asia. Yet India is bounded on one side by Pakistan, with all the historic political ill will over Kashmir and an unstable, undemocratic government. On the other side is China, huge, powerful, and still much undecided on which direction they will go. The scenario that scares me is that a nuclear Pakistan and China link up to threaten India. For me, this is a good example of where our foreign policy should be to engage China and try to influence them into cooperating with us and India in stabilizing the economic world as opposed to confronting China and driving them into an alliance with Pakistan. If you notice, the demonizing of China is well underway.
It is a complicated world without simple answers. And no answers are final. There is always a pop quiz the next day.
