Regardless who we are or what we’re about, introspection or reflection is very important in each of our lives. It’s important because many of the thoughts that reside in our unconscious may represent bits and pieces of potentially significant unfinished business. Through introspection we can determine more clearly why we think as we do and what may eventually become significant in providing clarity and possibly truth or falsity in our ruminations. Since many of our thoughts are initiated in our unconscious, or below the level of conscious awareness, through deliberation, those forethought’s may come bubbling up to the surface of our consciousness. Because some of the already resolved and unresolved thoughts, ideas, or feelings coming from the unconscious may demand modification or resolution, therefore represents unfinished business, to the extent that they remain in our consciousness, such mental activity associated with that uncompleted business will represent a kind of mental irritant which will need tending to as long as it remains in the conscious part of our mind.

We’re programmed to view anything political in an automatic and mechanical fashion, depending upon whether or not we’ve learned to think like a Republican or a Democrat; if what we read or hear relates to politics, regardless how tangential that may be, automatically, we will treat the subject using the backdrop of our firmly established political party we have tacitly sworn our allegiance to, regardless, whether or not that loyalty automatically fits the subject or not.

Because we’re creatures who find it difficult to tolerate anxiety or apprehension, the automatic reaction to spout the party line serves as a palliative, since by doing that, the discomfort is instantaneously either reduced or eliminated. Obviously, when you adopt the same thinking reaction to anything political by responding to such thoughts in a stereotypical or non-thinking way, the advancement of political thought to the betterment of enlightenment, resolution, and possible truth is automatically destroyed; all done to protect your ego from experiencing anxiety. That is one heck of a price to pay for not allowing the democratic process to operate in such a way that furthers the autonomy and self-governing objectives that our country was founded upon and that our Founding Fathers and their fellow patriots were willing to lose their lives to protect from British tyranny.

Democracy will flourish when what is demanded of our society and the politicians who are our representatives are able to express their views openly, without chastisement or ridicule, thus fostering a spirit of cooperation so that ultimately legislation is passed and signed by our president and in that way fix our broken system of government.

What I just said helps us understand why religion and politics are never discussed in polite society. The reason it’s not done is because it riles up the discussants in short order! Maybe that’s what this country needs is a little political straight talk, where we make the covert overt, and in doing so, look at our political reality not as we’d like to see it to be, but rather, the way it is today.

The fact we have this great country we call America today is because of the courage our forefathers and fellow patriots, both men and women, were willing to show when they supported or fought the Revolutionary War and were willing to give up their lives to protect their colonies from British tyranny. Can you imagine where this country would be today if that hadn’t happened?  America as we know it would be non-existent. It only came about because our fellow colonists were willing to not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. They were willing to put their thoughts into action if that was required to protect their freedoms.

They began to do that by being willing to talk about the political realities of the day, even though by discussing such matters, it made them anxious and nervous about what might happen if they had to put their words into action, which they did when they helped support or directly fight in the Revolutionary War.

What prompted the War was England’s use of their heavy handed tyrannical practices they exerted on their colonial subjects, ever since they occupied their 13 colonies. What the British did was to stifle the hard earned colonial freedoms which eventually were enunciated in our Declaration of Independence. Such British actions as stated in that document prohibited the free expression of the various freedoms that so amply described America as we have learned to value in this country today.

Today, if we all, including politicians, were to periodically step outside of ourselves, and engage in more reflection and deliberation, we would learn that we are only simply trying to accommodate our thinking to fall in line with our political party’s selfish interests, rather than being willing to cooperate with one another, and in so doing, eventually compromise, which, the Constitution implies is necessary if legislation be passed and made into law.

When you compare and contrast our forefathers’ Congress with that of our present assembly, the differences are stark, since at the moment, there’s no cooperation, hence, no compromise. No wonder our system of government is broken!

I would like to urge all of you who have read this blog to read my recently published book What Would Our Founding Fathers Do?: How Today’s Leaders Have Lost Their Way, for in doing so you will realize how cooperative, collaborative, and accommodating our country’s Congress was during Washington’s first presidential term of office, as well as how our Founding Fathers were when they framed the Constitution.

President Washington’s “first” term of office represented the best of what our Founding Fathers envisioned America’s government to be. After his first term transpired, there began covert discussion about the formation of political parties, the formation of which occurred when John Adams and Thomas Jefferson ran for president; that was when the spirit of cooperation became less than ideal and political squabbling began.

In President Washington’s Farewell Address, he warned against the “banal” effects of the formation of political parties – fearing the possible erosion of our political freedoms, all of which is happening today; very slowly at first, but gradually gaining momentum. Since the turn of the century, the erosion of our freedoms has reached a crescendo. The reason for this and the solution to mending our broken system of government is fully explained in my soon to be published political book; the title of which will be: “Political Straight Talk: A Prescription for Healing Our Broken System of Government.” I explain how things have gone horribly wrong over the last 200 plus years of our country’s existence, to the point where our democracy and republic is endangered of being destroyed from within. I not only describe the problem but also purpose a solution to this tragic and sorry state of affairs.