Bad Moon Rising.

A Moment of Clarity.

words. 

"In our democracy, we govern either by leadership or crisis. If leaders are willing to take the risks associated with leadership, it’s at least possible to avoid crisis. But if leadership is not there, then we will inevitably govern by crisis. Today, unfortunately, we are governing by crisis after crisis after crisis. The country can do that, but at a price: U.S. citizens will lose trust in our system of governing, and the world will view the United States as less able to back its word with power.

In my 50 years of public service, I have seen Washington at its best and at its worst. I still believe in the resilience of U.S. leadership. I’ve seen government rise to the occasion — from economic recessions to war to social injustice to natural disasters. I’ve seen it in those members in the House and Senate who struggle to find consensus. That consensus can be found, but not if most members are resigned to failure, and not if the only political strategy is to figure out how to blame the other party for failure.

In these next few months, major decisions loom on the budget, the debt ceiling, appropriations, the sequester and immigration reform. If nothing is done because of political gridlock, members may somehow hold onto their offices, but the United States will have been weakened — and not as the consequence of some unforeseeable event, but because our elected leaders did nothing." - Leon Panetta

THE WASHINGTON POST: Sequestration’s self-inflicted wounds