Has the Cold War suddenly re-emerged?
Are we facing another Cuban missile crisis?
Is war looming between North and South Korea?
Is a nuclear standoff between Iran and Israel imminent?
And, who will blink first?
The media is full of such questions and topics. Just Google “Who will blink first?” and you will get almost one hundred such headlines or topics for the past 24 hours, more than 800 for the past week and a whopping 15,300 “results” for the past month.
But guess what, most of these “results” are not referring to any looming international crisis, or to any clear and present danger or threat to the security of the United States of America.
The majority of such articles are referring to what should be an important debate among Americans: A discussion about the common financial and economic wellbeing of all Americans. A serious, civil and informed deliberation by our elected officials on what very well could determine the financial and economic security of our country.
Sadly, instead of seeing headlines such as “Republicans and Democrats working together to resolve the U.S. debt crisis,” or “Leaders of both Parties working hard on a consensus agreement to the debt ceiling issue,” we read the following:
Debt Politics: Who Will Blink First?
On Spending Showdown– Who Will Blink First? – The two parties careen towards each other in the ultimate game of political chicken.
Who Will Be the First to Blink?
Who will blink first on debt ceiling: GOP or Dems?
Debt Stalemate –Who budges first
Countdown to Debt Ceiling Deadline-Who Will Blink First
Who will blink first in debt ceiling fight— Boehner and the GOP? or Obama?
Obama Warns Cantor As Debt Talks Stall: ‘Don’t Call My Bluff’
Who’s gonna blink first in this game of chicken? GOP/Dem?
Who will blink first on debt stand-off, Obama or the Republicans?
Obama’s McConnell meeting: Will someone blink first?
President Obama Or Speaker John Boehner, Who Gives In?
You get the trend. It is not about getting our financial house in order. It is not about resolving a critical issue that will affect every American for generations to come. It is not about the very future of our country.
No, it is all about “playing chicken,” about a third-rate nation’s cockfight, about “my way or the highway,” about calling each other’s bluff, about another gunfight at an O.K. Corral we call Washington D.C.—it is all about who “blinks first.”
Come on, so-called representatives of the people; come on so-called leadership of our country. The stakes are too big. You—America— can and must do better than that.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.