Cooperative Senate

With all my rants about the inefficiency of our elected Congress, I have to give pause and show how our Senators can actually come together for a common cause. With little fanfare and hardly any news coverage, on Sept 12,2012 the Senate was able to pass Senate Resolution 553, known as the FPAD, by unanimous consent. There were no naysayers from either party and they actually acted in concert to pass this resolution and designate September 22 as the official FPAD.
Unfortunately,neither the liberal CNN nor the conservative FOX channels provided news coverage of this momentous vote and left the vast majority of Americans without adequate knowledge of this important day.
FPAD is the acronym for Fall Prevention Awareness Day! The Centers for Disease Control has compiled statistcs for the many billions of dollars wasted annually on persons over 65 years of age who are either injured or killed by an accidental fall. Obviously, with the awareness created by FPAD, citizens over 65 will have a huge advantage in the FAF (my acronym-Fight Against Falls). Imagine, if you can, reaching the age of 65 and no one having made you aware that you might fall and injure yourself! Even worse, what if you have far exceeded 65 and never had the opportunity to celebrate FPAD. You might fall down...
I write not to diminsh the real pain and suffering which is experienced by elder folks taking a tumble, but to point out the time spent by Senators actually drafting resolutions and taking time on the Senate floor to explain and pass those resolutions. Somehow, I have to believe there are slightly more important issues with which they might spend their time.
It is refreshing to see that elected officials can agree on passing something. It is saddening to look at the voting records and realize that, on a roughly 90% average, the votes are strictly along party lines. One has to believe, despite their party affiliation, that there are some good ideas actually presented by members of both parties. The current party system is reminiscent of the relationship between the crips and the bloods-either you're with us or you're against us. No crossing lines is tolerated by either side and dire consequences follow if one steps away from their own party to vote as they please. If the importance of the party itself and the hopes for re-election were not paramount within our Congress, we might have a bit better country in which to live.