February 28, 2016 6:33 AM

Compromise isn't anathema or equivalent to capitulation; it's the only way to ensure long-term survival

We live in a big, diverse society. There are essentially two ways to maintain order in such a society- politics or some form of dictatorship. Either through compromise or brute force. Our founding fathers chose politics…. Over the past generation we have seen the rise of a group of people who are against politics. These groups — best exemplified by the Tea Party but not exclusive to the right — want to elect people who have no political experience. They want “outsiders.” They delegitimize compromise and deal-making. They’re willing to trample the customs and rules that give legitimacy to legislative decision-making if it helps them gain power.

Though not being a huge fan of David Brooks, he from time to time will nail something. It’s not the “even a blind squirrel occasionally finds an acorn” theory, but he’s been known to craft a well-considered argument that transcends his normally more Conservative leanings. Common sense can be like that, I suppose.

So it is with his riff on the current degraded state of American politics. A cancer has been growing in our body politic-I’d argue virulently since 1980- and what Donald Trump represents is hardly something new. No, he represents the culmination of an almost four-decade journey from Tip O’Neill’s belief that politics is “the art of the possible” to today’s slash-and-burn zero-sum authoritarianism.

The thing about politics as envisioned by the Founding Fathers is that they knew their system would be a perpetual source of disappointment. In a large, endlessly diverse country like ours, no one ever gets exactly what they want. In order for the system to work and progress to be made, people must learn how to (and accept the need for) compromise, to acquiesce to what to them may seem a somewhat less than perfect solution in order to benefit the collective and move things forward.

The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 began the descent into the political morass we currently find ourselves in. Suddenly, where discontent had roiled below the surface and been soothed and subdued by negotiation and compromise, True Believers doubled down on their agenda. They didn’t care about other people, nor did they recognize the validity of other belief systems. Compromise increasingly became anathema and would eventually lead to our current state of affairs, in which the Far Right equates compromise with capitulation. A rigid, intolerant, and unyielding bloc of zealots refuse to compromise even one iota…and so government grinds to a halt, disabled by intransigence and obstructionism. So it is Senate Republicans can proclaim their refusal to meet with, consider, and vote on any nominee The Black Guy in the White House © might put forward to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Politics- the system that had served America so well for 200 years- has devolved and degraded into a system in which the only constant is a tug of war. Conflict carries the day because of the modern interpretation of the Golden Rule- He who has the gold and buys the most votes wins. Compromise is for losers and Liberals. Enemies are to be crushed- utterly and complete.

Someplace warm and breezy, Tip O’Neill sips on a Cuba Libre as he ponders with a growing sense of dread and despair the condition of our condition.

Trump’s style is bashing and pummeling. Everyone who opposes or disagrees with him is an idiot, a moron, or a loser. The implied promise of his campaign is that he will come to Washington and bully his way through.

When you view your opponents as “less than” and unworthy of courtesy or consideration, you’re a bully and a thug. You may successfully gain power via that strategy, but maintaining and consolidating that power may prove difficult without resorting to coercion or brute force, something that seems increasingly possible these days.

Trump’s supporters aren’t looking for a political process to address their needs. They are looking for a superhero. As the political scientist Matthew McWilliams found, the one trait that best predicts whether you’re a Trump supporter is how high you score on tests that measure authoritarianism.

What happens when the superhero you’ve invested with all manner of virtue and power turns on you? Will others stand by as the power of the state is brought to bear against you in a “First they came for the Packers fans, but I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Packers fan” scenario (apologies to Martin Niemöller)? Who will defend you when you become “less than” and unworthy of the consideration afforded to REAL Americans?

As Brooks is careful to point out, this growing migration towards authoritarianism is hardly an exclusively American phenomenon. Look at Europe and the Middles East and one can easily find examples to buttress his argument. The rise of ISIS/ISIL, along with virulent nationalist movements in Europe point to a future in which contentiousness and unresolvable conflict gradually move from increasingly likely to virtually inevitable.

Compromise requires the participation of parties who understand the nature of politics, that it’s not a zero-sum game. When you indulge in the creation of a system that runs on creating winners and losers, you’re setting yourself up for a future rife with unrest, conflict, perhaps even violent revolution.

The problem with True Believers, Tea Partiers, White supremacists, and the American Taliban is that absolutism may be satisfying in the short term (as long as you’re driving the bus). It’s not sustainable over the long term, if for no other reason than no one likes to be on the bottom looking up. Eventually, groups not fortunate enough to have access to the levers of power will push back…and the response they receive will go a long way toward determining the long-term future of the system.

Judging the coarseness of our public discourse today, I find it difficult to maintain any degree of optimism concerning our future. We may deserve better, but we’re standing by mutely as demagogues and authoritarian zealots seize control of our political system. That doesn’t bode well for what we’ll be handing over to future generations of Americans.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 28, 2016 6:33 AM.

Finally, conclusive proof that Hillary Clinton hates America and always has was the previous entry in this blog.

Isn't it time to tell us exactly how Obama has oppressed you? is the next entry in this blog.

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