I’ve often wondered why we don’t ask out candidates for office the hardest question of all? “Which of your principals are you willing to give up, for all of us?”
In other words, it’s fine to hold strong beliefs, we expect that. They are easy to shout at conventions, provide gleeful agreement for supporters and rallying points for strong campaigns. However, they are not a measure of strength only of conviction.
Leadership is choosing, often against you’re better judgement between two (or 5) horrible alternatives. It’s working with people you disagree with and often don’t like or even respect. It’s forging consensus where there was none before and taking the pounding when the people you lead didn’t get their way. In short, it’s leading, and almost never has anything to do with getting your own way.
I’ve been derisive and then impressed with John Boehner lately. He worked hard to forge a deal on the debt ceiling and then went back to his party and was told to “go to hell.” The impressive part was he came back to deal again. Whether this is an impressive piece of political stagecraft, or just the way things work in Washington these days, I don’t know. I hope not. I’d like to think there are a few of the old time politicians left around who do have the courage to compromise.
Our entire congressional system is built around compromise and consensus. That’s the way it was designed and that’s the way it works best. When we have congressmen and women who draw a line in the sand and bravely will not cross it, they are like the proverbial wooden shoes in the machinery. Have enough of those, either left or right, and congress grinds to a halt. These people are no longer doing the job they were elected to in government. They are not governing.
It takes guts to compromise, it’s not easy. It often hurts personally, politically and sometimes even historically. That’s why Senators and Representatives get the big bucks. It’s why CEOs get big salaries as well. They get them for leading.
We have a lot of praise going around lately for those who will not compromise, it is misguided at best and exceedingly dangerous for the rest of us most of the time. Not every situation calls for Henry Fonda in “12 angry men.” It’s a nice thought that it happens for good from time to time, but when you think about it an Islamic or Christian fundamentalist is being “Henry,” as well. Certainly, in their own minds they are heroes of good unwilling to compromise with the forces of evil.
It’s a human failing, all too common, not to be able to compromise your own personal beliefs for the greater good. Perhaps it’s a genetic trait that is slowly being weeded out of the race in an evolutionary amount of time. After all, those who will not compromise usually end up trying to force their will upon others through violence, and they usually get killed for the trouble. At best they are slowly ostracized which cuts down their chances in the gene pool.
Maybe that’s what “the meek shall inherit the earth” actually means. Can’t happen soon enough for me. For now I’ll limit myself to not supporting those I see that show “uncompromising” signs. Some are easy to spot like the Christian fundamentalist in Norway, Anders Behring Brevik, Osama bin Laden or Timothy McVeigh. But we all know someone a little like that, the ones that just won’t admit another possibility, no matter who it hurts. Usually we just stop talking to them, trying not to be like that ourselves. Maybe that’s evolution in action.
I can think of a hundred examples in the movies or in books of the uncompromising winning the day for good, but in real life there are thousands more examples of good being accomplished by compromise. It’s a messy way to go, with very few victory parades. But until we are all willing to take those two steps back for that one precious step forward, that’s the way it will be.
Copyright Prentiss Gray 2011
Prentiss Gray is a writer and columnist and currently writes the Domesti-Tech Blog for Gannett. He can be reached through his website at www.prentissgray.com
Prentiss Gray
Prentiss Gray is a writer/columnist/blogger from New Jersey. After 27 years as a Information Systems consultant and the death of his wife of 21 years, he returned to his roots as a writer, creating the national column Adventures of the Lone Dad/ Daddy chronicles. He now Blogs for Gannet on domestic technology, and writes feature pieces and stories for general publication. He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and contributes to Bloomberg News, Daily Record, Gannett and the Tribune Syndicate.
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B-b-b-But It’s HIS Fault
The Washington Post babbled again today about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this BULL. So once more, a short civics lesson
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for FY 2008 & FY 2009 as well as FY 2010 & FY 2011. (FY = fiscal year)
In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let’s remember what the deficits looked like during that period: (below)
Unable yo post chart.
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, including Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.
If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.
There is no way this will be widely publicized unless each of us sends it on!
This is your chance to make a difference.
P.S.
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills.. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, “the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
– Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006
Barrach Obama bears reponsibility just like you and I do. We’re all at fault. Finding responsibility doesn’t make us better Americans, finding a way forward will. In his favor, Obama, has made a huge difference in dialing down the arrogance we have shown in foreign policy for the last decade. In his favor he has shown a willingness to deal and work on the problem, even though it’s hurting him terribly. If he keeps that up, I’ll vote for him again.
Prentiss you raise a good point. Eventually members of Congress will come to some resolution and that will mean a compromise. A Republic if we can keep it, is a messy business. I like the way Boehner has handled himself as well. I’m sure he’s catching a lot of heat.
David it is too bad our current politicians can’t articulate a position as well as you do. Even if I disagreed with you, which I don’t, I would have to admire your ability to state your case fimrly and clearly.
For once I agree with David, the reason we are here talking about this is due to leadership failure and I’ll add further the self-aggrandizement on the part of those in the Tea Party Movement and The Republican Party novices and now in office and its leadership trying their level best to make a point and destroy all of us. They are truly a pathetic group who would see less education and abandonment of the elderly along while taking the rights and privileges of being an American away from the electorate just to advance themselves and their agendas, which frankly don’t serve anyone.
Kaye, it is nice that you agree with me, but that is not the point. The lack of leadership statement was by Obama when campaigning against Bush and his deficits. The point is _ Obama’s hypocrisy in making that statement against Bush and then growing the deficit by approximately 40% since taking office.
The problems we face are all about affordability and how to spend the peoples money. The government has no money beyond yours, mine and other citizens. We have open borders that are costing us BILLIONS in food stamps, rent subsidies, medical care and birthing expense by people who multiply at nearly three times the national average; and tremendous law enforcement and incarceration costs for people who are not even citizens.
To make that even worse the Latino economy is largely underground, that is without paying taxes. Then, to aggravate the problem further something like 25-40% is sent to Mexico and other places. That means no jobs are created here, taxes paid, etc. In the final analysis, you and I are supporting third world peoples beyond foreign aid. Uncle Sam is on the verge of bankruptcy and we must reign in our spending or head to the debtors farm.
Now factor in big unions favored status in retirement, job security and entitlements. That leaves the people working at trades, shopping malls, small factories that have not been sent overseas, mechanics and grocery workers etc. to do the heavy lifting. Surely you see that a shrinking number of people are left with the heavy lifting and risk of job loss. This is not rocket science. Blacks used to dominate the sheet rock part of the building industry and had a large share of the stone masons business as while. Today, Latinos, many illegal, control those unions and guess who they vote for and support – more Latinos. We are being polarized around race and the government refuses enforce immigration laws.
THE NET RESULT IS HARDWORKING AMERICANS ARE BEING LAID OFF, AND A LARGE SHARE OF THE MONEY EARNED GOES TO FOREIGN NATIONS. WE ARE AT THE END OF OUR LIFE AS AN EMPIRE, OR WE MUST MAKE CHANGES THAT INCLUDE COST CUTTING AND WHO HAS FIRST CLAIM ON THE PEOPLES MONEY. WE HAVE BEEN PRINTING MONEY WE CANNOT SUPPORT AND BORROWING FROM CHINA WHO IS ENCOURAGING OTHER NATIONS TO NOT BUY US TREASURY NOTES. WE ARE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN THE MOST GENEROUS NATION IN THE WORLD, NOW WE FACE CREDIT FAILURE FOR IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING HABITS. DO YOU WANT YOUR MONEY FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN, OR IS RESCUING EUROPE, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE YOU WANT YOUR MONEY TO GO, AND YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING WITH IT?
And well he should David.
I tried to keep from wading into this one, but I just couldn’t…
On Sunday, I saw something which made Nixon and Clinton look like bastions of veracity and all that is truthful. I watched Timothy Geithner on one of the many Sunday programs I regularly watch, and I have rarely seen a bigger bullshit artist. He didn’t say much of anything, but I did get one thing. The White House has no plan. You can’t score one if you don’t have one. Neither have the Senate Democrats. It is easy to throw stones at the House Republican plan when you have no plans of your own (not that the Republican plans were anything great). I also disagree that Obama has been willing to compromise. He has done nothing of the sort, unless you raise taxes on the “rich.” That is no different than the Republicans saying they won’t raise taxes unless we cut spending first. It is just a game of political chicken trying to set the stage for a repeat of 1994.
I loathe Harry Reid (Wesley Mouch) but at least he and Boehner are discussing a bipartisan congressional solution at this point, cutting the White House out of the picture.
This isn’t about politics!! It is about our future and our freedom. We don’t need politicians making politics out of it! We need to concern ourselves with the debt and deficit first, and then worry about the debt ceiling. That said, I say they are all sorry…
This is the fault of Congress since the 1940′s, which spent social security and wasted tons of money on unnecessary BS we didn’t want or need; just to get re-elected. That is a symptom of the bigger ill our nation suffers. These folks are worried about 2012 elections, not the future of the country! Obama and Bush were both participants in this mess, as was Clinton and every other President in the last 50 years; some in big ways and some in small. We need to balance the budget first, then start to pay down the debt. That is the cure! And government “planning” of the economy will NEVER EVER work. The sorriest nations have the sorriest economies as a result of such planning. WE are the economy, and the government has NOTHING to do with it. They are currently a parasite feeding on the productive in society. That has to stop, and until it does, we will have this decline and these sorry political exchnages ad nauseum.
Our way out is to pay off the credit cards and then pay of the mortgage by economizing in spending. Plain and simply, we spend to much! That is the issue… and the regular joe is the one who suffers; and that is us!
Compromise, perhaps. But let us put our house in order before we even atlk of spending more money or raising new taxes… otherwise known as throwing money down a rathole…
That said, I have no fault in this crazy mess, and I don’t thing many of us do. We didn’t spend the country into oblivion.
But I can agree with Prentiss that we ought to be looking for solutions instead of assigning blame…
The blame game is for losers…
I think in politics blame is important only if it helps to avoid the same problems in the future.
Well, I do place blame but agree that that will not solve the problem and like Prentiss and Michael intimated, “it is time to @#%& or get off the pot” and find a way out of this mess. Yes, we ought to be looking for solutions instead of assigning blame. That serves no purpose.
Prentiss. this was good thinking and writing. Our District Representative John Boehner is a good politician and a man who does not give up or draw a line in the sand. I wrote somewhere about how he helped me work on getting the pollution from the standing locomotives contained. It took months but we did it and I respect him.
Who cares..there is another congressman having sex with a teenager!!!!….As Fonzi would say…WO!!!
actually his last name is WU..so no fonzi shout here
Michael, sorry to take so long to respond to your comment. I think you may not want a lot of the things government does, but most Americans do. And i would reverse your priorities on the deficit and debt limit, the debt limit has to be done now. The deficit will take longer, as long as we commit to fundamental change it can take the time it needs. There is no simple or quick solution here, it may well take years and years to fix it.
By the way forcing a balanced budget doesn’t make much economic sense. First it hamstrings the government in times of need and second that’s an amendment that would last a year. They will suspend it the first time we get another Katrina, or other disaster.