Joe has gotten mad press lately. By that I am referring to Joe Sick Pack and Joe the Plumber. Since there is only one person not from the US who is likely to read this blog, and he's at the London School of Geniuses anyways, I don't feel compelled to explicate the above pop culture reference.
The only thing getting more press than Joe right now is the repeated phrase made by politicians nationwide that "we need to change Washington." I, speaking on behalf of all Washingtonians am here to say to the rest of America "thank you, but we are fine and don't need anything." The political rallying cry of "change Washington" is the most ludicrous of them all. However, at the same time it is the least politically costly too.
For those who don't live inside the Beltway and don't spend your time dodging tourists trying to feed squirrels in Lafayette Park (I promise you I say a German women attempting to do it earlier today) I think a little explanation is necessary. Washington is the federal city. The vast majority of people who live in DC work either for or with the Government doing the day-to-day tasks of making sure it doesn't collapse. Very few Washingtonians find themselves in policy making positions and are content to work for government wages, i.e., way less than what they deserve, because they believe in the system and want to make America better.
Washington is a city of museums, good restaurants and national treasures (not the one's that the crappy movie with Nick Cage alluded to). It is not a place filled with vice where every individual carries a wad of $20s and is ready to bribe or be bribed by anyone. If change must come to Washington, than perhaps it is the people that the rest of the country sends here who must change. These are the individuals who control policy and establish the rules of the game. This isn't Washington's fault, but rather the fault of Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Albany and countless other cities.
Politicians take cheap shots at Washington because they can. Nearly half a million people live in Washington, which makes it larger, by population, than the State of Wyoming. However, Washingtonians have little control over what happens within our territory. It's easy to target those who are least capable of fighting back. I can vote for three people-- the Mayor, the President and a city commissioner. None of these individuals decides on how funds are appropriated to my LOCAL government.
Plus, my fighting back is like throwing a tiny stone in the Potomac and imagining that it will miraculously stop the river from flowing. It's easy for people from a thousand miles away to join others a thousand miles away and target one specific location as the source of all their troubles. It's easy to displace the failures of their elected officials on some mythical corrupting force such as Washington. It is much easier than looking within the confines of their own voting booths.
If you want change in your world the better approach is to change those people who represent you. Don't blame those who are just trying to help.
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