Since my post last week on the extreme approach on the national debt ceiling and government shutdown being taken by Senator Ted Cruz and his Tea Party followers in the House there are signs that cooler heads may prevail. However even in these baby steps towards a negotiated solution Republican and Democratic leaders have been acting like representatives of two warring foreign states rather than members of the same government. The President lets it be known that he might be willing to consider a shorter-term extension of the debt ceiling if he receives a proposed bill without preconditions. House Republicans indicate that they might vote to extend the debt ceiling if the government remains shutdown in the interim so they do not lose leverage. And on and on it goes.

Am I the only one who is reminded of the long-running Palestinian peace talks? One side will not discuss peace while certain elements of the other fire rockets; the other side won’t come to the table unless settlements are frozen again. I could have chosen Iranian or North Korean nuclear talks or Northern Ireland or Syrian peace talks. We expect this sort of gamesmanship and mistrust between mutually suspicious foreign nations; however it still comes as a surprise at least to me when elected officials of the same government act this way.

The question I am always left with is: "Why did you run for elected office in the first place if not to serve the best interests of the Nation and its people?" In a similar vein "Is the job of Congressman really so great that it is worth holding the Nation to ransom just to get re-elected?" As Ive said before in these pages we deserve better.