USAToday Opinion Column

By Michael Wm. Schick

12/9/2011 5:16 PM

As we head into 2012, Americans will begin to focus on the upcoming election. Much is at stake, of course, and it’s not exactly breaking news that Republicans and Democrats can’t even agree on whether the sun will rise in the morning.

The American people, on the other hand, say in polls and in private conversations that they want a government that, well, functions. Perhaps our national leaders could learn a lesson from Saturday’s Army-Navy football game, being played for the first time inside the Capital Beltway, at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

How apropos.

This year marks the 112th time the Army Cadets from West Point play their arch-rivals, the Midshipmen from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Few rivalries are as intense and passionate, both before and during the game.

But something phenomenal happens when the game clock runs out. The losing team, standing alongside the victors, sings the winning team’s school song to the rival student body. Then, as a sign of extraordinary class and sportsmanship, the winning team returns the favor, singing the school song to the losing team’s student body.

The lesson for politicians is simple: There is a time to fight hard in a contest, but when the competition is over, it’s time to stand alongside the opponent and show solidarity. Particularly when you’re fighting for the one country.

The brave young men of West Point and Annapolis know that their football helmets will soon be replaced with the warfighters’ headgear. Their battle shifts from good clean fun on the football field to the ugly, dirty hell on the battlefield, whether it’s waged on land, sea or air. The once-rivals gladly, even proudly, stand side by side as partners in the fight against a common and dangerous enemy.

America’s elected leaders also have common and dangerous enemies: irresponsible spending, runaway deficits, massive unemployment, and an ever-present terrorist threat. The list goes on and on. Yet even with these daunting challenges, these lawmakers — all Americans — play politics instead of serving the public. They are paralyzed by partisanship.

It’s no wonder that more than three-quarters of the public disapproves of Congress — and that’s being generous.

Elected leaders aren’t asked to die for a piece of legislation, but they have a lot to learn about making other sacrifices for the American people.

Voters want lawmakers to leave the games to the election season. They desperately want Republicans, Democrats and independents to join arms and go after the real enemies — not one another.

Does this sound naive? Impossible? Maybe. But elected leaders in years past accomplished a great deal more because they set aside any obsession to protect the party in order to provide for the people. Like good soldiers from West Point, they did it because of duty, honor and country.

The Cadets of Army and Midshipmen of Navy are Americans first and last. They are gentle people first and last. They know when the game stops and the real work begins.

America’s elected officials should do likewise. If they can’t, then voters have every right — indeed obligation — to penalize them by kicking them off the team and out of the political arena.

Michael Wm. Schick, a former press spokesman for a U.S. senator, is a strategic communications consultant in Washington, D.C.

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