Host of Between the Lines with Barry Kibrick on PBS

Crisis Point

Our system was not designed to encourage the kind of inertia plaguing our current leaders in Washington... The center can no longer hold under such mindless and unprecedented partisanship.

Fmr. Senate Majority Leaders Trent Lott & Tom Daschle - Crisis Point

When Republican Senator Trent Lott and Democrat Senator Tom Daschle, who have been on the opposite sides of the isle on almost every policy and law debated in the Senate, come together to write a book because they both agree we are at a crisis point, it is time to listen.

There is no one in this country, who, along with the former Senators, does not see that business as usual in our government is no longer an option.

However, although an alarm must be sounded, this is far from a new experience for us Americans. From the founding of our country there have always been two major differences on how we envisioned our national government. One had a larger role and one a much smaller role. One largely built on rugged individualism and one built through collective action. Sides were clearly drawn but the answer always was we needed a little of both. George Washington, at the constitutional convention, knew we would find the answer.

Surely, we have among us men who understand the science of government and who can find the answers to all our problems. Surely we have the ability to design a government that will protect the liberties we have won.

What Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison and others knew then, and in our hearts we all know today, is that the people, not our leaders are the ones truly in charge. And that is what we see during this most tumultuous primary in our modern history. As the Senators write in their book

Crisis Point

Our country's strength comes from the tension that's inherent in our DNA.

Often, at times when we believe that things are falling apart, what really occurs is that we are just reeling from the spiraling within our own DNA. This cannot help but makes us feel dizzy, confused, unsure and filled with doubt. However, and I learned this lesson more often than I care to admit: The light is always the brightest when you emerge from the darkness of despair.

And as the great non-American statesman Winston Churchill said:

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.

At this time we are experimenting with everything else. It seems like we are dazed and confused, and we just might be, but we also know that in the end we will do the right thing.

This is a crucial time and therefore I am dedicating two episodes with Senators Trent Lott and Tom Daschle about their book Crisis Point. In the first episode, that airs this week, our conversation focuses on the problems at hand. In the second episode, airing next week, we discuss the solutions.

We will, like our forefathers, find the answers even if we have to try everything else first. And while we are looking, be grateful we are the ones in charge.

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