They won; now they must govern
Our congratulations to all those candidates who earned the voters' trust yesterday and won election.
Now, it's time to govern.
For those who are new to politics, they will find it's harder than it looks from the outside. Even a simple zoning change can generate a ton of conflicting information, from water availability to aesthetics. Almost no decision you face will be cut and dried, black or white. Running for office is one skill. Being able to make good decisions is something completely different.
Government is clumsy and slow. In some ways, it's meant to be that way. The process is designed to prevent off-the-cuff rapid-fire decisions. That can be frustrating to both elected officials and the public, but it tends to give people time to really think about the decisions they have to make.
And the more complex an issue, the more difficult it is to find a comprehensive solution to the problem. That's why major national issues, involving highly complex problems, often seem like it takes forever to get a fix approved.
It doesn't help when parties become so bogged down in power games and dogma that even a good solution gets rejected out of hand simply because the other side proposed it. Heaven help us that we might actually solve a problem if the other guy is going to get credit for doing it.
Both major political parties have taken that attitude in recent years, and it seems, based on their own leaders' statements, that it is only going to get worse. Prepare for some massive gridlock in Congress.
If you are newly elected, prepare to recognize the limitations of government. If you've been re-elected, maybe it's time to hit the ideological "refresh" button and start thinking about what's best for your constituents, not yourself and your party.
It's time to govern, not just win.
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