Cyber Beat

Politics: In The Office, Nationally And In Cyberspace

Politics. Whether national, or in the office, there are some distinct similarities. This past week I experienced several events at my day job that caused me to give some thought to who I am and what I have to offer our society. If anything, the negative events that occurred caused me to reflect upon my accomplishments as a person, and as an American, regardless of which sex I am or which party I belong to.

The negative events to which I am referring each and every one of us experiences at one time or another, but perhaps in different degrees. I'm referring to office politics. You know, that darn water cooler chatter that does nothing but stir up negative vibrations that kill any productive creativity that might actually make work fun.

What struck me as funny, however, was to think that office politics is really no different than what goes on in national politics. At the office you have manager "A" slinging mud at managers "B" and "C" so that manager "A" looks good to the workers. In national politics you have Presidential candidate "A" slinging mud at Presidential candidates "B" and "C" so that candidate "A" looks good to the people. At the office you have "A" gossiping about who "B" has slept with in order to undermine the ability, credibility and judgment of "B" as a rival. In national politics you have married Presidential candidate "A" accusing married presidential candidate "B" of sleeping with his assistant in order to undermine the ability, credibility and judgment of "B" as a rival. In the office, manager "A" sends out his "spies" to get the scoop of what manager "B" is doing so as to stop any potential for success of any of manager "B's" programs. In national politics you have the same.

However, even with the similarities, there are two distinct differences I see between the politics at the office and national politics. One is the amount of money involved and the other is the impact that the game playing has on a particular group of people. Office politics generally only affects those unfortunate people caught in the middle, the employees. National politics, is just that, national, and therefore affects the nation and its people. Whether the intensity of office politics is caused by local conditions or whether it's a "trickle down" effect of what's occurring in Washington I don't think any of us can know for sure. However, I would surmise that although some would argue that President Reagan's "trickle down" theory did not work for the economy, it has had some definite consequences in the political arena.

If my theory, that negative national politics, and the mud slinging that has been intertwined in it, causes local and office politics to intensify could be tested, and was found to be true, then I would simply call President Clinton and ask him to put a stop to all the mud slinging. Since this theory may or may not mean anything in the scheme of things, however, I just have to remind myself that I am a person. When the mud starts slinging in my direction at the office, I'll just have to turn the fan on high speed and send it back in the direction from which it came. I didn't mess the office up, it was that way when I got here. For that matter, President Clinton didn't mess up this country, it was that way when he got there.

The bottom line is that all of us who are legally in the United States are Americans. Each of us, whether man, woman or child, Republican or Democrat, have to take the responsibility of being an American citizen. Much of that responsibility is being accountable to not only ourselves, but to one another.

So the fact that I am a woman means little if my agenda is to make objective decisions with the good of my office and the employees in mind, whether the employees be men or women. If my agenda is to pick a group of employees who I like and ensure that only they are happy, then I haven't benefited them or the rest of the employees in the office no matter what my sex or political agenda. However, if I bring all the issues to the table for all to hear and discuss and allow the employees to make the decisions, hopefully there will at least be a mutually agreeable compromise.

My point here, and there is one, is that national politics seems to be going through a period like the politics at my office. National politics seems to be taking two steps forward and one step back for every move that is made. No one seems to want to sit down at the table and negotiate a compromise that will allow all sides to be part of a win-win situation. It's "us against them." Men against women. Republican against Democrat. What I believe we must do collectively, as Americans, is to stop and reflect on where we are and where we want this country to go. We all have an agenda. The point is to develop a game plan where all sides can be happy with the outcome of the issues; whether the person is a man, woman, Republican or Democrat.

Oh, and by the way, why don't you take a look at a few interesting sites that I found while surfing out my frustrations!

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