Losing Touch - The Art of the Compromise

I can't believe it has been a month since my last post. But once again, it seems the uninformed are taking to the streets against the newly proposed jobs act that asks for a minimal tax rate increase from those who have benefitted the most.

What happened to the great society we had where we all pitched in to make this country great? When we all compromised to the mutual benefit of all? Was I dreaming?

As a quick aside (but in line with my point), I was talking to my dad this past weekend, lamenting the fact that politics is no longer the "art of compromise." Instead it has become the mandate of the extreme. If I recall, even when the last election was run and the Dems were turned out, I don't recall any overwhelming returns for any but a couple of the newly elected representatives. I recall when I first started my foray into politics that most of the candidates understood that there was another percentage of the populace in their district that had voted against them, and the goal was to be able to reach out and accommodate their views. OK, back to my point...

I read the comments that Elizabeth Warren had put out the other day, as follows:

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you!
But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.
But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."

So we should all be happy that the American Dream is alive and well and that anyone can become wealthy. See Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, to name only a recent few.

Then there are the Madoffs, the Skillings, the mortgage failures, the moves by Lehman, Citigroup, Ernst & Young, list goes on, that pull what they can and run from responsibility. We have lost touch with the fact that oversight is an important role played by the government, and that compromises on how heavily to burden business and the privileged that have benefitted need to continually be addressed so that these types of situations don't occur again are of vital importance to our mutual well being. And yes, Virginia, discuss and compromise as to how much they should be expected to contribute and pay forward for the next person down the line.

When did we lose touch with the true art of politics, the art of compromise, and will I ever see it again in my lifetime? I hope so for the sake of my children.