EDITORIAL: Compromise? What’s that?

The recent log-jam in Washington DC over the simple subject of border security is troubling on every level. That this historically bipartisan issue should have become so hotly contested and hopelessly bottle-necked is disturbing and shameful. Unfortunately, blame for the problem lies at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

First off, the U.S. Congress has become a hopeless mess. For more than a decade, the Republicans have shown a complete lack of leadership. They are unable to be unified on anything, even when they have held the majority in both houses. The Democrats, on the other hand, have the leadership, but they lack any values – at least any that are not purely motivated by politics. The case of border security is a perfect example. It doesn’t matter what is right, what is clearly best for the country, or even what is best for their own constituents; if it doesn’t advance toward putting a Democrat in the White House in 2020, the Democrats in Congress will fight against it.

Currently, the Democrats’ sole ideological motivation seems to be centered around nothing more than an intense hatred for Donald J. Trump. That is hardly a basis for a reasonable legislative platform. But that blind hatred, mixed with a rising extremist dogma on the left, has boiled over into a truly volatile mixture. The best result one can hope for, given such conditions, is a rigid stalemate where nothing can be accomplished. That seems to be the precarious depths into which the U.S. Congress has descended. Sadly, it may get worse from there.

Throw into that unstable mixture the toxic antics of Mr. Trump and things really get dangerous fast. Trump has been billing himself all this time as some kind of master negotiator; the great ‘Artist of the Deal.’ By that, he apparently means that he has made a career out of getting what he wants through manipulating, bullying and pushing others around. That was always crystal clear to the voters who elected him. After all, to ‘kick butt and take names in Washington’ was arguably the main reason he was elected.

But now folks are witnessing first hand that these simplistic methods simply don’t work under a Constitutional separation of powers. The President can’t always get what he wants; even if he is a domineering and arrogant character like Donald Trump.

The fact is, there is more to negotiating than insults, intimidation and coercion. What about discussion, understanding, mutual respect, trust and, finally, compromise? Somewhere along the way, the United States of 2019 has entirely forgotten that essential concept of compromise. But it has always been a foundational American principle without which the republic cannot function.

Of course, Donald Trump didn’t forget it, because he never knew it in the first place. The word ‘compromise’ is not even in his vocabulary. Trump is a bridge-burner of the highest magnitude. If brash insults and the berating of opponents doesn’t yield all that he wants (and not a shade less, mind you), Mr. Trump has nowhere else to turn to resume discussions. That is perhaps the greatest of his many weaknesses as a leader.

So here we are, with hopeless gridlock on the important subject of border security. Mr. Trump should be leading on this matter! This issue is what got him elected! It is even likely that most of the country is behind him on it. For anyone else, this issue should have been a slam-dunk. But Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, his campaign of public insults and his impulsive need to say exactly the wrong things have alienated and entrenched his opposition and made any compromise to a sensible middle ground impossible.

Now Trump’s entire arsenal of offensive techniques have hit the wall (maybe the only wall that will result from this mess). So he has decided there is no other way to save face with his base than to take an even lower road and tunnel under it. Since that messy legislative process envisioned brilliantly by the founders won’t get him what he wants now, he will just have to chip another chunk off of the old Constitution, declare himself emperor for a while, and rule by executive fiat. That is where things get truly frightening!

It is bitterly ironic that certain Democratic lawmakers who once cheered on another President for wielding “a phone and a pen,” are now suddenly holding forth indignantly on preserving the holy sanctity of the U.S. Constitution.

But even more disturbing are the dyed-in-the-Red, Constitution-cherishing Republicans who are suddenly so willing to cast aside that founding document and justify Trump in taking a similar overreach of power; only this time a huge step further.

These are truly perilous times for the republic! Gaining a political victory by trampling on the separation of powers and shamelessly eroding the Constitution, no matter how virtuous the cause may seem, is no victory at all. Such frightening behavior will inevitably end in a bitter loss for all sides.

Our advice to Mr. Trump would be to ‘round-file’ his emergency declaration now; lay off Twitter for a while to allow all the parties to cool down; and then go back to the drawing board and work within the bounds of the Constitution.

To the Democrats in Congress: stop trying to stage a socialist revolution in our country! Instead, get to work on the business of the people! Remember, the vast moderate political center of this country is rating the Congress at an abysmal 20 percent job approval. That is even worse than Donald Trump’s current 44 percent, which is bad enough!

Folks out there in the country are struggling with issues much bigger than border security. They are hungry for real things to get done in Washington that might help them out.

So all the elected officials in Washington, on both sides of the aisle need to set aside their inflexible extremist ideologies for a while and get some honest work done for the people that elected them! They should start by trying to build bridges for a change instead of just ripping them down. Then they might eventually be in a position to do what they were elected for: honest negotiating and compromise for a change. That is, if any of them are still capable of such a thing!