I will be honest and admit I had several chains of thought as what to write for my first column in 2013. My first thought was to write about going over the so-called Fiscal Cliff but as I wrote this column last Friday night there was breaking news that some sort of political compromise was possible in order to prevent us going over that cliff. I could have chosen to write about the dire financial consequences if we did go over that cliff but since we might not, maybe it would be better to state that if members of Congress and the President come to some sort of agreement, don’t take off that emergency parachute so soon. In other words, the devil will be in the details and as with all decisions of a political nature, members of Congress have passed legislation that none of them knew what the results would be and ObamaCare is a perfect example.

What’s even worse, our Congress has not passed a federal budget in something close to 1,300 days. Oh, there’s been plenty of temporary Band-Aid approaches to keep the federal government operating, which is exactly the same thing people do that live paycheck to paycheck and I don’t mean because of necessity but rather just a common practice of fiscal stupidity. After all, why should members of Congress worry in the first place? They are well paid (and truth be known, only members of Congress and the president receive their pay if there is no federal budget) and they have millions of taxpayers’ dollars to spend on their staff ($3 million or so if I remember right for senators).

I used the above headline for a reason, actually a really simple reason. I look at the news headlines at the end of 2012 and can only conclude that we have government at all levels that has become more and more dysfunctional as our national status declines around our planet. It is sad to see so many elected officials failing to make Windham, Cumberland County, the state of Maine and the United States of America a most prosperous place to live. Instead we see political battles that only divide us, especially in Washington, our nation’s capital. I expect the same in Augusta in the near future.

In Windham we have town councilors that appear to have a personal agenda for what they want. A perfect example is a recent discussion to have the Windham Town Hall open on Fridays just for contractors to obtain permits with the code enforcement office or discussions with the tax assessor’s office. Really? What about those of us who want to register a vehicle, license a dog or register to vote? For me, it sounds like the bully pulpit is controlling the town of Windham, which is no different than the politics in Augusta or Washington.

I was pleasantly surprised when Windham Town Councilor Tommy Gleason and I had lunch at a famous South Windham landmark establishment and no, it wasn’t planned as we just happened to both show up that day. We were discussing various political catastrophes of the week of which we both were in agreement about. Gleason stated it’s high time for politicians in America to come together and start solving problems instead of creating them and again at every level. I couldn’t agree more even though I often take the hardcore fiscal reduction stance, which is just my own political belief. I respect Councilor Gleason because he ran on the principle of helping people, not to improve the financial futures of himself or friends.

But I leave the meaning of my above quote to the reader. Who was the fool on the hill? Was that referring to members of the U.S. Congress (on the Hill)? Was it just drug-induced lyrics from the Magical Mystery Tour album? Or was it us?

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, has seen far too many headless politicians in politics. Some have been fools on the Hill.