Same old, same old (Opinion)

Reading the biggest headlines generated thus far by our state’s Legislature has been a largely disappointing exercise.

It’s simply hard for us to reconcile that the right to pack a pistol while sitting on your church pew or arguing over whether relatives of victims should be allowed to watch executions in person are at the top of our lawmakers’ priority lists. And as for the fellow from Conway, well, never mind.

Sadly, our disappointment extends to the federal government, too. Call us foolish, call us naïve, but we had reserved at least a few ounces of hope something might change this year.

Granted, we’re barely a month into 2013, but stop and think about how distant all that fiscal-cliff talk seems now. Remember all the doom-and-gloom scenarios we were barraged with when it looked as if a deal might not get done?

Are we now supposed to believe everything’s peachy just because the two sides reached a Band-Aid of an agreement? Really?

But instead of any real news regarding long-term fixes, all we seem to get is the same old partisan antics. If President Obama is for something, the general rule is Republicans are against it.

Heck, Obama can’t win even when he tries to appease his counterparts on the other side of the aisle. While trying to assure sportsmen and hunters he won’t ignore their concerns while dealing with gun reform, Obama mentioned how much he likes skeet shooting, only to be asked to provide photographic proof and challenged to a contest by a skeptical Republican from Tennessee.

To be sure, the partisanship runs both ways. We’re still not sure how long Democrats plan to blame any of their present-day failures on the Republican president who preceded Obama.

What both parties might actually benefit from is realizing how many of us are tired of the finger-pointing and name-calling. Most of us are ready for some real solutions.

Most of us are ready for both parties to work together to retrain the large segment of our work force that needs it. Most of us are ready for both parties to work together to fix what needs fixing in areas like education and infrastructure.

If they did that, both parties might win. Democrats could point to the programs that produced real results as success stories, while Republicans might gain needed voters as those who benefit climb the economic ladder.

Until then, as our elected leaders continue to show, we’ll have to settle for the same old, same old.