A Republican Speaks for GOOD | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Eric Cantor is a young Virginia Republican who is wise beyond his years. Here is his biography:

    People have expected me to be critical of all things Conservative. Here is his post for today's New York Times with which I can agree:

    It contains the common sense of governance the Tea Party seems to lack. Here are a few highlights:

         •  "Somewhere along the road, a number of voices on the right began demanding that the Republican Congress not only block Mr. Obama's agenda but enact a reversal of his policies. They took to the airwaves and the Internet and pronounced that congressional Republicans could undo the president's agenda - with him still in office, mind you - and enact into law a conservative vision for government, without compromise.

         •  "Now we see that these same voices have turned to the threat of a government shutdown or a default on the debt as the means by which we can force President Obama to agree to their demands. I wonder what they would have said, if during the last two years of President Bush's term, the Democratic congressional majority had tried something similar.

         •  "The tragedy here is that these voices have not been honest with our fellow conservatives. They have not been honest about what can be accomplished when your party controls Congress, but not the White House. As a result we missed chances to achieve important policies for the good of the country."

    I think this wise Conservative is recognizing the basic problem of governance over the last 2 years of a Congressional and North Carolina fiasco. It has resulted in constant threats and a stalled politic of the same size as went on when Nixon was under the gun and Clinton was accused of lying to Congress without success of Impeachment.

    When supposedly mature leaders start acting like children on a play yard, we are in trouble. There is bullying. There is selfish gang warfare. We used to have a persimmon tree in the corner of our school playground. Each fall the sticky fruit was great ammo to throw at girls. They can get mad enough to beat the mess out of silly boys being silly.

    Maybe we need some mad girls to get Congress back on track! Mad girls seem to anchor the Tea Party these days, sadly.

    The greatest days of American governance in the past has been when we determined to UNITE for the HIGHER GOOD. Another name for such is COMPROMISE.

    The basic concept of democratic process and debate was a product of the Renaissance. In that era of human history people began to start asking questions about Science vs. religious. It was a time of great THINKING and REASON over the previous barbarian-at-the-gate Dark Ages.

    It seems history goes in cycles of civility and barbarity.

         •  Civility has to do with thinking and kindness of people one to another

         •  Barbarity has to do with the rule of "might makes right"

         •  Prior to the Dark Ages civilization in the Old World had great libraries --- and the Greeks and Romans had discovered representative rule

         •  Barbarians from the tribes of Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries came to destroy and conquer them

         •  Genghis Kan was another from the Far East who conquered by might and sword

         •  The Great Library at Alexandria was burned as well as Egyptian writing

         •  Barbarians could care less about Knowledge and Reason

         •  Barbarians want the wealth that good civility brings to all

         •  Even Charlemagne and his Magna Carter fell to barbarians

    I trust you will evaluate our current way of being a "New World Experiment in Democracy." It has worked for better or worse over 200 years. Right now it seems to be missing some important ingredients --- like COMPROMISE and COMPASSION.