Speaker of the House John Boehner (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

We at Occupy World Writes try to stay apolitical as far as what we write goes. While we’re unabashedly liberal, we recognize that neither party truly represents we the people; that they’ve both been corrupted by special interest groups and the corporate lobbyists. That being said, I personally tend to bash our conservative brethren more. With their stated views and policies on a wide range of subjects as diverse as education, women, LGBT issues, immigration, etc., they represent views and policies that I personally find discriminatory, short-sighted, racist and misogynistic. But, that’s just me…

You also have their record as legislators on the federal level over the last few years. This Congress has passed the fewest laws of any Congress ever, and the second least productive Congress was the one proceeding this one; mostly due in both cases to a deeply divided House majority, with a small but significant group being willing to derail any legislation that has bipartisan support. And, if a bill passes the House, it usually won’t go anywhere in the Senate.

This week’s antics in the House of Representatives are prime examples of what I’m talking about. On Wednesday, the House passed a bill authorizing a lawsuit against the President for using executive orders to effect changes in an existing law (the Affordable Care Act), which is a law that they’ve tried to repeal over fifty times.

Ever since the GOP took control of the House in 2010, they’ve been pushing for a delay in the individual mandate, especially when it comes to small businesses providing plans for their employees. So, when the President signs an executive order doing exactly that, they sue him for doing so. Does this make sense to you?

Yesterday, the House tried to pass a border security bill. Inspired by the humanitarian crisis of Central American refugees coming to the US as undocumented immigrants, this bill was for a fraction of what the President originally wanted ($700 million vs $3,7 billion), and was considered a must pass. At the last minute, Speaker of the House John Boehner pulled the bill, as it wouldn’t pass. Mind you, this was their own bill.

The Speaker then postponed the House recess (yes- they’ll be gone for all of August) to come up with a bill they could pass before leaving. He then suggested that there were steps that the President could take without Congress to ease the border crisis. Yes – the day after approving a lawsuit against the President for using executive orders, he proposes that the President use executive orders because Congress is too dysfunctional to do its job.

Now, mind you, I’m not saying that the Democrats or the President are angels- far from it. The President has endorsed and continued a lot of the same Bush era policies that got us into the mess that we’re in, and the Democrats for the most part are spineless ideologues; they talk a good platform but cave in when faced with any real opposition.

So, we have a broken government. How do we fix it? Get out and vote in November. Start holding your Congressthings accountable; let them know where you stand on the issues. Remind them that they work for you, and not for special interest groups and the corporate lobbies. Get involved!

It won’t fix itself; we need to do our part…