The Politics of the Weed Patch

During the week, I’ve had to do a great deal of outdoor work in order to get the garden in shape under the challenge of an early and demanding spring.  Each year, I’m reminded that Mother Nature does not stand still for anyone who chooses to ignore her. 

Crocuses announce an early spring on March 7, 2012
(Bergeron Image)

I’ve also come to understand that, when gardening with someone else, you must work as a team. The days are short, and there is no time to be fretted away in fruitless discussions about how to get things done.

There are shrubs to be trimmed; holes to be dug for new plantings; mulch to be spread, and other related chores that won’t wait.  If you don’t move along, the day flies by, and not much work gets accomplished.  Ignore what needs doing and, by summer, you end up with what resembles an unattractive weed patch.

Just observe a gardening crew that gets paid to do this work professionally:  You can’t help but notice how most of the workers are well supervised, know what to do, and work quickly in unison to get the job done.

As I was digging in a spot for a small Spirea bush which needed to be transplanted to the front yard, it occurred to me that much of the dysfunction which is being observed in the political sphere these days could be easily compared to that of a garden which has not been well-tended.

There are far too many outsized egos jockeying for position and power.  They are forgetting the fundamental principles of political gardening.  The result is that the weeds are growing taller, and good people are getting hurt. 

It’s happening in New Jersey and elsewhere – including at the Federal level. 

Here’s one example from our own Garden State:  Phillip Kwon, an American of Korean descent, and a highly qualified candidate for the New Jersey Supreme Court was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee on purely partisan grounds. 

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, New Jersey contains the third largest population of Korean Americans.  Had Kwon been confirmed, he would have been the state’s first Asian-American justice.

In Trenton, the weeds continue to grow.