Keeping the main thing the main thing

For years we've heard the importance of keeping the main thing the main thing. All that it means is that we need to keep focused on doing what's really important and refuse to allow ourselves to get sidetracked on lesser things. For those of us in leadership roles this is especially important. If we allow ourselves to get involved in lesser things it will affect our entire organization.

Congress has lost sight of this imperative. They have spent two years investigating the president and any involvement he may have had with Russia that might have influenced the election. Since the latest report from the Senate Intelligence Committee seems to vindicate the president it appears this has been millions of dollars and hours wasted for political purposes. Congress continues to promote policies regarding tighter gun laws that are unnecessary and have no chance of passing. Congress was willing to shut down the government over funding for a wall that would cost a minimal fraction of the total budget. Newly elected members of Congress continue to promote radical agendas that the nation cannot afford and does not need. To read and listen to the news one would think these are the most important challenges facing our nation.

At the same time we have military men and women fighting and dying in wars across the globe, homeless people living on the streets in the midst of a frigid winter, veterans who cannot get into VA hospitals for the assistance they need, children who are going hungry, an infrastructure that has long needed attention, an education system that often fails its students, a drug epidemic that is creating more and more crime and probably partly responsible for an increase in suicides, gang violence that is in both large and smaller communities, prisons that are overcrowded, and the list goes on. Can anyone tell me one thing our government "leaders" have done to address any of these issues in recent memory?

The only thing these "leaders" want to do is to promote their own political agendas. Let the nation go down the tubes as long as they get their way and keep the other side from "winning." Long ago they lost the idea of keeping the main thing the main thing. What is good for the nation is a long-forgotten concept in the minds of many of our "leaders."

Before anyone accuses me of going political, I'm blaming everyone in office, and this is not a political problem, it is a moral problem. Everyone of the issues I listed above is a moral issue. Building a wall is no more immoral than locking one's doors at night. But, ignoring the many problems I mentioned above while focusing all one's attention on "beating" the other side is a moral issue.

I don't expect the hardliners of either party to change. They live in districts that will re-elect them regardless of what they do or don't do. They've never had the good of the nation in mind anyway. I also have little hope that some of the more outspoken newer members of Congress will change. I can only hope their radical agendas and statements will make them one-term members of Congress. What I would like to see are the moderate voices of both parties begin to say "Enough is enough." It would be great for them to speak out and challenge their "leadership" to begin to address the real issues facing our nation. It would be even better for them to begin to work across the aisle to find common ground that would address some of these issues. I know that's not how our government works anymore, but but the fact is our government hasn't worked in years. Maybe we need some people with the courage to make it work like it is supposed to.