In the Spirit of Compromise
In a topsy turvy post 9/11 and financial collapsed world I'm uncertain of the wisdom of compromises being made on our behalf.
The Saudi state is proclaimed as a staunch ally yet the majority of 9/11 hijackers came from there and vast sums of terrorist dollars came from there and probably still do. Now we are supposed to accept a continuation of trying the diplomatic approach with Iran even though what has just apparently occurred is so dramatically in conflict with our perceptions of equitable governance.
The same is true of the actions of our government with the handling of the financial collapse. The compromises made and which are continuing have done little to rectify the lack of systemic accountability or gross negligence of financial regulators. In fact we have the opposite. People who were very close to what has occurred are the very ones involved in 'fixing' it. This is absurd, is just stupid beyond belief and shows a complete lack of common sense.
The same is true for health care. Medical costs have risen 50% in the last six or seven years but that ridiculous increase is of no apparent concern to federal regulators.
Our crazy system of taxation has allowed U.S. corporations to avoid paying taxes through manipulation of offshore accounting schemes or Swiss bank accounts while wage earners pay their fair share.
Jobs have disappeared by the millions and have been transferred to nations which are our competitors in the global economy. But that hasn't done shit to keep prices for goods and services from going up, up and up. How dumb is that?
Compromise is fine for a masochist I suppose. For everyone else it equates to being royally screwed.
Sorry, thepeoplechoose, but compromise is what happens, and needs to happen in the real world. If not, the alternative is what we now hear in reports from the streets of Teheran.
And that's not good. We don't Tiananmen Square incidents to be popping up around the world and then try to call them democracy.
No. Compromise is a fact of life. And it's built into our Constitution. Congress and the courts are both governmental structures to achieve, guess what--compromise.
Some might call it, agreement, consensus, or peaceful coexistence.
You may see our President as a compromiser because he appointed the people who made the financial mess to clean it up. But, hey, isn't that what we teach our children to do in America?
Mr. Obama is governing pragmatically from the center. That requires compromise, no way around it.
Thanks for posting your concerns though. Freely expressed opinions make for good public dialogue and therefore, ultimately, problem-solving collaboration and consensus. Keep on thinking and writing. It's what keeps democracy alive.
June 15, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
We don't agree.
The compromises that resulted in the messes we have and which have arguably harmed this country in serious ways are unacceptable.
Where our problem lies is in the motivations of those persons seeking the compromises.
The results stand as irrefutable evidence of a governing process gone horribly wrong.
Compromise needs to be about finding and implementing ways of achieving a commonly agreed upon and desirable outcome. In spite of the competing political rhetoric which invariably specifies and sounds like commonly agreed upon and desirable goals the politically devised remedies or plans often end with a compromise of the well being of the country.
If all our elected officials truly wanted for the nation to end up in the same good place we would actually get there more frequently and reliably than not.
June 15, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink