Compromise refers to adjusting one’s political position to be
someplace between two beginning positions of opposing sides. In a murder trial the extremes are not guilty
and the death penalty, so perhaps a compromise would be guilty of a lesser
crime and a either no prison term or a short term. In American politics, the problem with
compromise is that the Right end of the political continuum has moved far
further to the extreme right than at any time in the nation’s history. None of the founders imagined a country run
almost entirely by major corporations, as is the case today. The Progressive position is similar to what
was previously called liberal or moderate Republican positions, mainly on
social issues, but fiscally more like conservatives. There is basically no left wing position representing
the American people, as that term is understood in the rest of the world, i.e.
leaning toward socialistic solutions to national problems. The US is the only
country among its allies with such an extreme form of Right Wing
governance. In the US today “compromise”
from current beginning positions is between mildly conservative and radically
conservative. There are currently almost
no liberal or left-leaning alternatives.
Most American working people, and lower income unemployed people’s
values are more aligned with those of the former moderate to liberal
candidates, but because of the vast power of financial interests influencing
the electoral processes, these wealth interests in effect buy elections. Electoral corruption has become rampant and
public in America.
This has created a very unhealthy state of political affairs
in which much of the country’s population is unrepresented, unconscionable for
a country that boasts of its democratic governance. No wonder much of the world has no interest
in adopting America’s form of corporate democracy. The Occupy Wall Street group was a
disorganized attempt to begin to address this huge discrepancy, but was ineptly
conceived and even more incompetently implemented. Eventually, another group will come along,
far better organized with strong connections with various important progressive
power groups, and a commitment to truly democratic reform, rather than
anarchy. The conservative establishment
will attempt to suppress such a group, recognizing its threat to continued
unilateral control over the US government by corporate interests. An administration that refuses to accommodate
the interests of such a democratic group representing a very large component of
the people, will do so at its peril, democrat or republican. If governmental suppression becomes heavy
handed, violence will very likely result, with widespread civil unrest. Such a gross imbalance of power and lack of
representation of such a majority of the American people will not be tolerated.
American unions are logical focal groups around which
broader coalitions could be built among the American public. Such coalitions would appropriately be seen
as being interested in more than the wages and working conditions of union
members, but as having a commitment to average working and unemployed Americans
more generally. Unions should begin
reaching out to lower and middle income working Americans and providing basic
services that are being denied by the Right Wing House of Representatives and
Senate. Local free or very low cost
health care clinics, legal services, childcare, financial services, housing and
transportation assistance, neighborhood watch and public safety, and other essential
services could help build stronger bonds between middle and lower income
communities and coalitions organizing for a more democratic America. If Obama
is re-elected he will need every bit of support possible to proceed to rebuild
an America that is consistent with our values.
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