The Importance of Compromise

The most depressing and aggravating aspect of politics has been polarization. It seems that our most outspoken and strident minorities live their political lives at one or the other of the poles. Their blood runs hot and their emotions run high. They shout and they refuse to listen. They call everyone who disagrees with them liars and scoundrels (and other more vicious names). The few politicians who have been seeking compromise (Joe Lieberman and John McCain, for example) have suffered derision and rejection by members of their own parties because the voices of the parties are the voices of the polar extremists within the parties.

Now that the Democrats have won control of the House and the Senate, we are hearing the word, compromise, from members of both parties more often. The members of the polar minorities are sure that this is an empty gesture of politeness; that we will soon get back to (polarized) business as usual. I hope they are wrong; that the desire to compromise is genuine.

Most social and economic issues are complex, made up of many related small problems. The solutions to these issues will serve us all better if compromises are part of those solutions. This is the hardest part of social problem solving. The best answers to those many small problems do not always sit exactly on the fence that runs between the two sides of the issue. Most of them fall a short distance from one side of the fence or the other. A social issue is most satisfactorily resolved when some of the selected answers are on both sides of the fence, and roughly the same distance from the fence. The solution is not perfect; everyone will see some flaws in it. But they can live with it, and see a general improvement from it.

I hope that we see some compromises. I hope that the word and the process that it represents remain a part of our political life for some time to come.