Passionate Partisanship, Compromise & Failed Government

Nobody likes to talk about it, every passionate constituent thinks their political ideology is sacrosanct and so many with such un-veeringly committed views believe that their minority will is so correct that it must be imposed on everyone else regardless of the consequences… but… democracies cannot sustain without a willingness by elected officials to compromise. When enough such minority candidates are elected to stymie that ability to compromise at an operational level vaporizes, simply put, government fails.

In Minnesota, a state that not too long ago had a professional wrestler as governor, the Tea Party Republicans have refused to close a $5 billion budget gap in a disagreement with the Governor over increasing taxes for those with higher incomes. The issue hardly impacts the overwhelming majority of state residents and is clearly a position that only supports the special interests who financed the campaigns of so many of the obstinate legislators refusing to budge. Republicans and Democrats have bickered for a very long time, but they have always found enough middle ground to continue government. In the last ten years, there have only been six such shut downs (yes, including Minnesota) over such budgetary impasses… even then only for a short time. But the Minnesota Republican legislature and the Democrat Governor are locked in a stalemate.< o:p>

Minnesota Republicans have lost control of their own party. While the Republicans have majority control of both houses of their legislature, the Tea Party agenda, clearly representing a minority of elected legislators, has been able to control the party agenda. To generate sufficient party clout within their own ranks, Republicans have begrudgingly succumbed to Tea Party pressures to stand fast, even when every political instinct in their bodies screams for compromise. Publicly, they appear firm and unified. Privately, they fear public retaliation at the 2012 elections for failing to figure it out.

State funding in Minnesota ran out on June 30^th. This is a description of life in Minnesota on July 1^st after government shut down: “State parks were barricaded, and campers, Boy Scout troops and everyone else were sent on their way. [Folks with reservations found them canceled.] Heading into a holiday weekend in a state that savors its summers outdoors, licenses for fishing, hunting, trapping, boats and ATVs were unavailable for purchase. And all around the State Capitol — the place where all the troubles began — the streets were eerily empty and official buildings locked, plastered with hand-taped signs that offered a gentle explanation: ‘This building is closed until further notice due to the current state government service interruption.’” New York Times, July 1^st. There is no sign that either side is moving; no new negotiations were set for the holiday weekend.

But the above stalemate is the kitty in the room, a shadow of the bigger war taking place in the U.S. House of Representatives, where a minority Tea Party movement has taken control of the Republican majority in that Congressional body. The issue of raising the deficit cap, cutting programs well below levels tolerable by either the Democratic majority Senate or the President without raising taxes, threatens to shut down the federal government, place the U.S. in default on many of its debt obligations and destroy America’s credit rating (making us pay so much more interest for even our existing deficit obligations in the global marketplace). Meanwhile, in anticipation of some form of federal austerity measures – assuming a compromise can be reached – unemployment continues to rise. The Dept. of Labor announced the June numbers, up a tenth of a percent from May, to 9.2%. More evidence of the double dip.

Privately, seemingly unified Republicans are terrified that their actions may give Democrats wiggle room on the economic issues they cannot solve, allow them to blame Republicans for the failure and lead to Obama’s reelection. As we watch Republicans vie for the presidency more than a full year before the nominating convention (and they’ve been at it for quite a while already), it is clear that this schism in party ideology may well be their Achilles heel. The Tea Party is unyielding, uncompromising, and defiant. And while many in the electorate admire such committed behavior, contrasted to the slippery roles that politicians usually adopt, there is also a nagging feeling that these folks may be best suited for talk radio and not for running a government that cannot work without compromise. More and more, people are asking: Has the art of compromised died in the United States? Has the ability to govern died with it? At least Congress canceled their Fourth of July recess to work on the problem even though they really didn’t accomplish anything.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it is quite disturbing to watch the United States cripple itself in this most highly competitive time in the worldwide marketplace.