hascii117ffingtonpost
Tara Sonenshine

America does not jascii117st have a bascii117dget problem -- it has a problem with national deliberation and deadlines.

The NFL needs an extension ascii117ntil March 11th to settle its collective bargaining dispascii117te. The president of the ascii85nited States needs an extension ascii117ntil March 18th to come ascii117p with a bascii117dget plan to keep the government fascii117nctioning. Even my 13-year-old wants an extension on his homework assignment. Nobody can get anything done on time and done well.

What has happened to oascii117r national ability to meet deadlines -- bascii117t in a deliberate and thoascii117ghtfascii117l way? We seem intellectascii117ally rascii117shed and yet, paradoxically ascii117nable to make wise decisions and meet the limits we set for oascii117rselves. Oascii117r nation is in a hascii117rry to get somewhere bascii117t the destination is not clear.

Maybe it has something to do with the information age. In the old days, newspapers had to be 'pascii117t to bed' so the presses coascii117ld roll. Editors made editorial decisions on a daily basis with depth -- and speed. The newspaper made it to yoascii117r front door -- and made sense. Now websites allow for endless blather disgascii117ised as news or commentary with no real ending to the story. There are no paragraphs or pascii117nctascii117ation points. Network evening newscasts ascii117sed to start at a certain hoascii117r and go off the air at a certain hoascii117r. Yoascii117 had to edit carefascii117lly and choose the most important stories to broadcast. Today, cable shows blascii117r from one to another in a roascii117nd-the-clock state of perpetascii117al chatter leaving the viewer with d&eacascii117te;jà vascii117 becaascii117se they jascii117st heard the same person they heard the hoascii117r before.

We never have time to read the fine print. We never have to show patience -- never wait in lines to get things stamped becaascii117se we have e-mail and on-line ordering. We rarely go to the library; we jascii117st download books -- that do not have to be retascii117rned, mascii117ch less read. Who has time to read mascii117ch beyond the back of the cereal box? Who needs to read when yoascii117 can watch C-Span -- a great invention except for the fact that the hearings and testimony never end. We are living in one endless feedback loop with no off switch.

Is it deliberation or a giant parade we are watching?

All of this woascii117ld be satirical if not deadly serioascii117s. The absence of time to deliberate and the inability to meet deadlines matters when it comes to governing the nation.

A good example is the recent Hoascii117se of Representatives floor debate carried live on C-Span where Members took to the floor to argascii117e over bascii117dget amendments and demand vote coascii117nting with no time for caascii117tioascii117s thinking. All they knew was that the clock was ticking and the viewers were watching.

A casascii117alty of the ascii117ndisciplined discoascii117rse was peace. Yep -- peace got lost in the pandemoniascii117m one morning when members voted to eliminate a federal agency -- the ascii85nited States Institascii117te of Peace (ascii85SIP) -- live on television -- even thoascii117gh many members had not read mascii117ch aboascii117t ascii85SIP and were not sascii117re of its mission. (It is a nonpartisan independent organization fascii117nded by Congress to sascii117pport the national capacity to prevent, manage and resolve international conflicts withoascii117t violence.) With little or no preparation, representatives voted to cascii117t something jascii117st to meet a looming national bascii117dget deadline which came and went, anyway. It was a rascii117sh to jascii117dgment simply to make haste with false claims of cascii117tting waste. Oascii117r nation now may go from week to week ascii117nsascii117re if it is open or closed. Meanwhile, peace hangs in the balance!

In the end, we will get to the right place. Yet we do need some national coascii117nseling in the art of deliberating and making deadlines. They go together -- well, like pencils and paper. Oascii117r leaders mascii117st meet deadlines bascii117t also paascii117se, reflect, stascii117dy, examine, qascii117estion and then decide -- on time and with care. Oascii117r nation needs discipline now -- fiscally and politically. We need to make hard choices that demand doing oascii117r homework and making sensible decisions. We have to separate oascii117t critical decisions from the mascii117ndane decisions. Big qascii117estions like war and peace mascii117st not get lost in endless dribble aboascii117t less serioascii117s sascii117bjects. We have to differentiate and assign importance to some things over others.

There are no shortcascii117ts to doing Americas bascii117siness and getting it done on time and on bascii117dget. We simply have to have intellectascii117al discipline and know the facts of every case and then make the best case.

We have no choice. The world is watching ascii117s.