Compromise: an American Political Necessity

When I left the Republican party behind in the early 1990s, it was not because my fundamental political and social beliefs had changed. I still believed in fairness, equality, fiscal responsibility, conserving natural resources, and so on.

I left the Republican party because they had,
in actuality, left me and other reasonable folk.

I left the Republican party because, under the House leadership of Newt Gingrich, Republican had morphed into the party of obstruction and division. Please let me repeat that for emphasis:

The Republican party has become the party of obstruction and division.

For example, for much of the Obama administration, republicans have been braying about the horrors of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), through which millions of uninsured Americans have been able to have health insurance. The Republicans attacked this program unceasingly, saying they had a better idea.

Yet when Republicans acquired control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, what was this brilliant plan they had in waiting for the past seven years?

Crickets. Nada. Bupkis. 

When they finally came up with alternative plans and related legislation, they couldn't pass it despite their control of  the administrative and legislative branches of the federal government. This is because for all those years of attacking the ACA, claiming they had a better idea, they really had nothing but negativity, obstruction, and division. They had, really, no ideas at all except that Obama and Democrats were bad.

Obstructionism Clogs the U.S. Political Process

Are you unhappy with Congress? They can't seem to get anything done? Welcome to the club. Most Americans see it this way. But don't blame Congress. Blame the Republican party.

Our entire system of government is based on the necessity for compromise. I admit that when I was younger, I did not understand this. I held George H. W. Bush accountable for his promise not to raise taxes and then his reneging by signing tax-increase legislation. Yet it was I who was foolishly ignorant; it was Bush senior who was being reasonable and willing to compromise.

In my earlier years I was an uncompromising idealist. I had my views and was extremely unwilling to budge. I'm sure that many of my acquaintances -- especially those who disagreed with me politically -- found me obnoxious. In fact, I was obnoxious -- exactly like the uncompromising Republicans of those years and of today.

If one has a rather extreme ideology, then it is unlikely he or she will convince a majority of others to agree. But if one then insists on adhering to those beliefs without the possibility of  granting a little leeway, then no agreement can be reached at all. This is the story of the American experiment.

For our government to work, officials of diverging beliefs must be able to give a little to find common ground. If this doesn't happen, no agreements are reached, no legislation is passed, no problems are solved, no progress is made. You have gridlock in govenment. Feel familiar? That's what we've got.

Republicans Are to Blame

Over recent years, Democrats have demonstrated a reasonable willingness to be flexible. Many times they've tried to meet Republican demands somewhere in the middle. Yet Republicans -- especially those who represent the ideology of the Tea-Party wing of the GOP (which is not, as is commonly believed, a grass-roots movement; it has been initiated and carefully nurtured by a cabal of billionaires and their front organizations, with the intention of promoting Libertarianism -- a process of de-regulation, which would free them to pillage the land and their countrymen in the pursuit of greater wealth) -- the republicans have refused to yield.

Thus we have our unending governmental gridlock.

Pretty much, this has been the type of position Republicans have
taken for going on nearly 30 years: all opposing ideas are rejected
without a willingness to compromise.

The willingness to compromise is essential in American government. If you are tired of governmental gridlock, then stop voting for persons who are so ideologically fixed that they are unable to find common ground. Encourage others to do the same. Explain that compromise is essential for our government to work.

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Dump Trump, Pense, Pruitt, the Trump administration, and the Republican party. It's for the good of the country.