Why is America so politically divided? Could it be that a game mentality has replaced wisdom in our government? This should be a rhetorical question, but unfortunately it is not. Winner-take-all may be good for baseball, but definitely not for a democratic government. Far too many citizens seem to feel that when “their side” wins an election, the elected representative is responsible only to them. The representative also relies on this bizarre notion to press the agenda of the party they represent. This position is selfish, childish and extremely destructive to our form of democratic government.

Many recent elections have been decided by an extremely thin margin. The adolescent winner-take-all mentality demonstrated by a majority of Senators and Representatives today allows them to dispassionately disregard up to 49.9% of the people they are supposed to represent. The voting records which substantiate the positions taken by each Senator and Congressperson are available at http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/. Unfortunately, the decisions of the Executive Branch are classified secret and have been impounded.

In the past five years of dominance over both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the Republican Party has taken this high school definition of winning to a degree seldom seen outside the arena of spectator sports. One thing is certain, the opinions of half of the population of the United States today are having little impact on decisions which affect them.

The latest cries of Bush-won-so-give-him-what-he-wants, is an extreme example of adolescent thinking. When we elect a President we understand that he will have leanings toward one position or another which are different from many of us. However, we do not expect the “losing side” to be ostracized from the political process. We do not expect that the President will act like some college football star and insist that his way is the only way, and only the wants of his team matter. We do expect the President to be an example of wisdom and statesmanship. We expect that his leadership is such that not one citizen feels that their opinion didn’t matter, even when decisions are made contrary to that persons desire.

President George W. Bush shows every indication of desiring Coronation. His use of recess appointments and signing statements demonstrate a contempt for the will of the people which is further demonstrated by his condescending doublespeak. There can be no doubt that our President lied us into war, we have documentation to prove it. There can be no doubt that his agenda trumps ours, and he keeps his agenda carefully hidden. There can be no doubt that he perpetuates a divided electorate in order to keep us busy fighting amongst ourselves so we have little interest in watching him unravel our Constitution. The smirk on his face, when presenting his position was once considered an unfortunate mannerism. The performance of his branch of the government in times of crisis leaves not a hint of doubt that his smirk reflects his security in knowing that even if we can prove he is lying there is nothing we can do about it.

To make matters worse, reflections of the President’s condescension can be seen on the faces of far too many members of Congress as they disregard confirmed facts during their speeches in favor of uttering hyperbole when justifying their positions. Those congresspersons play the adolescent game of follow-the-leader instead of demonstrating the compassion, understanding and wisdom we should hope for and expect to find in those elected to such high office. Every day that passes brings us closer to the destruction of the government our founders formed and fought for.

That fight, the American Revolution, was necessary, as we know, in order to get out from under the contemptuous rule of their own King George. Our government, and the very essence of who we are, is at risk today. It is past the proper time for impeachment, but not too late to get the job done. If we don’t do it now, we may very well not have sufficient rights remaining to get it done in the future. In the game being played today there will be only one winner. If it is the President, he will assume winner-take-all. For all our sakes, the winner must be “We the People.”