Contributors

Monday, August 19, 2013

Compromise: the Dirty Word

Mark's post about conservative attitudes contained the following:

"Compromise is the filthiest word in their language..."

I had been contemplating that idea recently. The word "compromise" has two main definitions:
1) settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions
and
2) a concession to something derogatory or prejudicial (a compromise of principles)
I would hypothesize that moderates and liberals believe that the primary meaning is 1) and conservatives believe that the only meaning is 2).

I would further hypothesize that this reflects your underlying worldview. Liberals and moderates believe that through compromise that everyone can win. Conservatives seem to think that life is a zero-sum game and that they can win only if their enemies lose: there's no such thing as a reasonable accommodation, and anything less than total victory is betrayal of everything that is good and holy.

This way of thinking is flawed. Compromise is an essential part of life.

Without compromise it would be impossible for any business to be conducted: companies would be eternally at war with their employees, customers and suppliers. Marriage would be a living hell: husbands and wives would be constantly bickering about sex, money, TV, what's for dinner, etc. No children would ever reach adulthood: parents would strangle them out of frustration because they refuse to obey their every command. Disagreements among neighbors would quickly degenerate into armed mayhem and murder. Organized religion could not exist: no parishioner accepts verbatim everything that their priest or minister says. (Some would say this describes life in red states to a T.)

So why should the basic business of running our nation be conducted any different than running a company or enjoying a harmonious family life?

The underlying premise of this country is that we're all in this together. If we all work together we can make this a better place. But it seems that conservatives reject that very concept and want to divide the country up into factions that are constantly at odds.

The problem, as we've seen with conservatives constantly bickering among themselves over who's more conservative than who, is that no one will ever be ideologically pure enough. Conservative groups demanding purity will splinter into tinier and tinier factions, and will fight amongst themselves as much as they fight Democrats. Tea Party "primarying" of the more reasonable get-'er-done Republicans is direct evidence of this disintegration.

The more conservatives bicker, delay, sabotage and run out the clock until the 2014 election, the less likely swing voters are to cast ballots for the obstructionists and nut jobs. And given how narrowly the Republicans have gerrymandered themselves into control of the House of Representatives, that could spell oblivion for the Republican Party.

2 comments:

Juris Imprudent said...

You are going to hand over all of your shit to me right this minute.

What? You don't want to do that?

Okay, we'll compromise and you only have to hand over half.

What? That isn't the kind of compromise you had in mind? You're just a fucking unreasonable obstructionist. We could be making PROGRESS here but for you and your shitty attitude.

Juris Imprudent said...

Here is an rather uncompromising look at what has happened under Obama. Is that what you had in mind?