Where would we be without the nation’s slogan, ‘In God We Trust,’ as our national motto? Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) felt that the motto was somehow coming under attack. He and 64 co-sponsors supported a House resolution to reaffirm ‘In God We Trust’ as the motto. Apparently printing the slogan on every piece of currency was not enough for Forbes.

Although the resolution has no real purpose, it is symbolic of a hypocritical Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. The resolution is one of the most clear-cut examples of the hypocrisy and inattention to the country’s real priorities.

When Republicans entered Congress, symbolic votes were supposed to end under House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) rules package. At a press release introducing the rules, he said, ‘Washington has grown inefficient, unfocused and wasteful.’

To fix this lack of focus, Cantor said, ‘Each day, we will hold ourselves accountable by asking: Are our efforts addressing job creation and the economy; are they cutting spending; and are they shrinking the size of the federal government while protecting and expanding individual liberty? If not, why are we doing it?’

In short, the government was seemingly supposed to be used for only actual, important work to be done — a worthy goal. These rules, though, have been treated as a rough guideline. The rules were used as a symbolic rather than a true change in attitude by the new leadership. By continually breaking their own rules, the Republican leadership has lost credibility with the public.

Forbes told The Washington Post the resolution was useful: ‘Our citizens need that kind of hope and that kind of inspiration.’ Americans do not need the emotional message of ‘hope’ — especially from politicians. When the public voted for Obama on ‘hope’ and ‘inspiration,’ they were let down. Americans actually need solutions to the economic problems causing them to lack hope.

The resolution is another reason to feel hopeless. That citizens’ representatives are trying to inspire them by reaffirming a phrase that is already the motto of the country and already seen daily demonstrates the lack of focus on priorities. Rather than spending effort on substantive issues, Republicans have wasted another opportunity.

Critics of this analysis will claim it is too hard on Republicans. Democrats could be just as responsible for this problem. Moreover, there are countless bills that are wastes of time, but still end up introduced, placed on the agenda and voted on. Even rules cannot account for the normal business of our legislature.

This perspective, though, fails to recognize the obvious lack of ability for Republicans to consistently focus on jobs. Their wish to be viewed as working diligently on resolving issues has backfired. Instead of being honest with the public, Republicans felt fit to deceive the public. The Democratic leadership did not create new rules to try and win over the public’s sympathy. The Republican leadership should not be judged on their appearance, but on their actual substantive results.

We now know that our elected representatives in the House can agree upon the reaffirmation of ‘In God We Trust.’ Now, it is their responsibility to come to some sort of agreement on actual issues facing our country. Rather than agreeing on something absolutely meaningless, we should push our representatives to spend their time on effective efforts.

Harmen Rockler is a junior newspaper and political science major. His column appears every Monday. He can be reached at horockle@syr.edu.

 

Published on November 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm