Compromise...Right!

Compromise is the genius of the American Constitution. Beginning history and government students are always amazed by hard it is to move a bill into a law in the United States. Successful legislation is very difficult to enable. Bipartisan legislation is almost impossible to enact unless both sides legitimally agree to work together and even then a small minority (even of one in the Senate) can block a bill.

In the 2010 midterm election the American People once again split power in Congress. The House is Republican, the Senate and the Presidency Democrat. This has happened numerous times in American history, often in times of national stress, with the hope that the danger will cause the two sides to work together.

Polls show that independent voters, who are becoming a majority, want both parties to work together. A frequent complaint is the bitter partisanship that exists. That is a big reason why incumbents were defeated in the election.

So, what do our conservative friends do? They are allowing compromise all right, but only on their terms. The do nothing Republicans the past two years have been the party of “no”. They successfully blocked hundreds of bills, short circuited the Health Plan into one enfeebling part after another, cut the stimulus bill in hopes it wouldn’t work, blocked energy legislation; etc. Senate Republicans set a record for fillibusters. Any they were REWARDED!

Now, a deeply divided Republican Party will take control of the House, and are dictating to the President what THEY want; when they can agree on what that is. Oaths are forced on congressmen, promising to not raise taxes, promising to be loyal to the conservative “tea party” principles at all costs. Already, threats are being made to punish anyone who really reaches out to the other side.

This is hardly the spirit of compromise or bipartisanship. Effective legislation does not have a chance in this atmosphere.

The election of 2010 was a disaster for the country. The radical conservatives were rewarded for their intransigence and see no reason to change. Two more years of radicalism, of attack, and the Presidency and the Senate may be theirs. That is their aim. Win at all costs with no compromise!

The American People, in good faith, are attempting to do what they have done in the past; try for compromise and a middle path to deal with pressing issues.

The problem is that conservatives have no reason whatsoever to compromise. This was verified when Senator McConnell slipped and said the main goal of his party in the next two years was to make President Obama a one term president. This is during a depression/recession, with an unemployment rate over 10%!

No mention of job creation, or help for people who are losing their homes and lives, no, McConnell calls for a two year effort to discredit the President. I imagine how this affected the President.

Gridlock is what the independents insured for the next two years. This happens when America can ill afford inaction. Moreover, the promise is to repeal the Health Care Plan, before it can even be partly implemented. We are told by the pundits that this effort is mostly rhetorical, but plans are devulged to not fund the plan which will kill it.

Conservatives are committed to repeal a Health Care plan that will eventually insure 30 million Americans and save billions of dollars. Of course, the insurance companies are behind their repeal efforts. They are not bluffing, they never bluff.

Meanwhile, America suffers. The economy is probably in worse shape than we know. Over seven million jobs have been lost, probably permanently. It will take years to rebuild the economy.

And what do the conservatives plan for? They want to continue the tax cuts for the richest Americans that have proven to have no stimulative property for jobs or economic health. They want to cut government spending, which will only serve to deepen the economic downturn. They want to cut Social Security, which is financially solvent, and rip into Medicare that is a life line for our seniors.

They do this because they were rewarded for their extreme negative political behaviors in the 2010 election. They have no reason to compromise or work with the President. They keep talking about how a wave of change has come over the country, when really what has happened is negativity and the failures of the Bush administration have been resurrected.

The promise for America is negated by voters who rewarded irresponsible and defeatist behaviors. Effective legislation, that is difficult to enact anyway, is effectively impossible.

Of course, in 2012, what is left of the Democratic Party will block the Republicans in hopes for the same result. The country meanwhile slips into oblivion.

You get the government you deserve.