Failure to govern: Political apathy can't go on

In this Jan. 28, 2015, file photo, Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing.  The White House blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday for holding up confirmation of Lynch, President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, arguing the "unconscionable delay" was a stain on the Kentucky Republican's leadership.
In this Jan. 28, 2015, file photo, Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing. The White House blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday for holding up confirmation of Lynch, President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, arguing the "unconscionable delay" was a stain on the Kentucky Republican's leadership.

Americans are fed up with politics.

On Monday, a new Gallup poll found that for the first time in decades, neither major political party in the nation pulled at least a 40 percent favorable rating from the public.

In the national poll, only 39 percent of Americans said they view the Democratic Party favorably, while only 37 percent view the Republican Party favorably.

It's a reflection, according to political scientists and pundits, of dissatisfaction with the political dysfunction we see daily in Washington. A great example is the fact that none of our senators and Congress members have any complaints about President Obama's nominee for attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch, but Republicans are falling all over themselves to say they won't vote for her because of -- well, politics.

Even normally moderate and often reasonable Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander fell in the soup Tuesday.

"I will vote against President Obama's nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general of the United States," Alexander said in an email statement to the media. "This is an opportunity, within the Senate rules, to express my disapproval of the president's abuse of executive authority, and it's an opportunity I intend to take."

What? Loretta Lynch was the valedictorian of her class, and gave up excellent private attorney compensation to become a public servant decades ago. She has successfully prosecuted mobsters, bad cops and corrupt politicians. She is the epitome of good government working well. But we the people cannot get a vote on her nomination because the Senate has now found a way to disagree on a bill that would protect victims of sex trafficking.

The bill also carries an amendment that would prevent fines collected from sex trafficking perpetrators to pay for any abortions for the victims of sex trafficking. And a vote on Lynch's nomination is being held hostage in the Senate because theoretically smart men and women would rather create differences than work them out.

Politics.

You know, some of us news folks don't always like the black boxes or tinted type that designers sometimes use on Page 1 headlines, but we don't throw our paper or keyboards away and boycott all news programs or websites in protest. We think doing so would make us bad journalists, and it likely would do little to change the color of future headline boxes. It's probably safe to say that most of our parents raised us to be a better negotiators. Better workers and team leaders.

But then we're not in Congress.

Of course, federal politicians aren't the only problem, and they aren't the only reason we're all souring so acidly on politics.

Just look at the Tennessee General Assembly. Despite all of the conversation in campaigns across the state and nation over demand for "more accountability in government" and too much "government" at all levels, many Tennessee House committees have recently begun meeting first behind closed doors for unannounced "pre-meetings" to discuss pending bills before taking up legislation for public consideration and eventually a vote with little discussion. (Sounds a lot like our Hamilton County Commission meetings, doesn't it?)

State lawmakers insist they are not taking actual votes in the closed meetings. And they say that their meetings do not come under the state's Open Meetings Act or Sunshine Law because one legislature cannot bind a future legislature. Frankly, we fail to see what a vote today -- that can be undone with a vote next year by a new assembly -- has to do with whether this or that committee holds open meetings.

Suffice it to say that at least 10 of the House's 15 standing committees now hold these unannounced meetings, often in out-of-the-way offices. Each committee sets its own rules. Some allow non-committee members and/or lobbyists in the meetings. Some don't.

It's your government. And it should be your disgust -- and probably is.

Clearly, like our Congress, our state Legislature doesn't quite know how to play well with us little people.

So they don't. Instead, they make their own rules. They shut us out.

Is it any wonder we don't like politics?

But a better question is this: In all of our last elections, our disgust showed itself in similar ways -- voter turnout was dismally low. By failing to let our elected officials know how we feel at the polls, we made it far too easy for them to do exactly what they wanted without thinking about us.

Let's not ever make that mistake again.

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