Compromise Compromised

Lately I have been avoiding the news. I know for some of you this is not hard to do but for me it is a monumental shift. I admit it, I am a political junkie and the strategy behind politics usually fascinates me. However, lately I find it hard to watch and even harder to swallow and it makes it all hard to watch and follow.

I am not picking on any one side because it seems like lately we are ruled by the extreme. All the press coverage goes to the extreme right or the extreme left and all of us who call ourselves moderates are lost in the crossfire. If it is true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease then both wheels need greased and the axles holding everything have been forgotten in all the noise.

I don’t have anything to prove it but I truly believe that the extreme ends of the political spectrum do not represent the majority. However, they tend to be more vocal and not afraid to speak up (or shout out in many cases) and therefore garner all the attention. We see it every night on the news, politics have become an ugly battleground with each side trying to shout the other down. Those caught in the middle are often beaten up by both sides. It kind of makes you wonder why anyone would ever want to get involved.

However, getting involved is exactly what we need to do. I know it will be ugly and painful but the results of not doing anything will be even worse. We cannot allow this tug of war by both ends of the spectrum in which neither will give an inch. Without compromising nothing will ever be agreed to and we will forever be stuck in our current gridlock.

Am I saying that we need to give up our morals and principles? Absolutely not, we must all believe in core values and ideals that we hold close. We must also try to understand the thoughts and beliefs of those who are very different from us and ask ourselves why they believe what they do. I am not asking you to agree with them but rather to try to understand where they are coming from and see things from their perspective.

Hopefully this current round of bitter arguing, fighting and violence will make most us in the middle act. That is the only thing that will make it better. We must stand up and tell both sides to go stand in the corner and not come out until they can behave, enough is enough and we need to start acting like the civilized nation we are. After all the United States is a melting pot of cultures and ideas and in the past, that is what has made us strong.

We must get back to the place where every day, ordinary people will participate in the governance of this nation at a local, state and especially national level, there are too many good people for us to settle for the choices where are currently given. I am not picking sides because I don’t really care for either side. I want to support someone who believes what I do and represents my best interests not the special interests of someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.

So how do we get back to that place? That is the ultimate question and one we had better answer pretty darn fast. We need to take our political parties back and ultimately our government and one of us alone cannot do it. It will take all of us stuck in the middle to rise up and tell those on the extreme ends that enough is enough. We must get involved, there is no other way and it will not be easy or painless. Those in power have gotten there because they are good at getting their way and making it difficult for those who challenge them.

Am I saying that all public servants and elected officials are bad or bullies? No, I know many who are there for the right reason and are good people who represent our best interests. Increasingly it appears those types of people are harder and harder to find and that is why we must take control back before we lose more.

I do believe that we live in the greatest nation in the world and that we can not only retain that title but improve upon it, but we must get back to what made us great in the first place. We must return to a nation that allows new ideas but holds on to the values we were built on. I hope that we will get back to a place where we value all opinions and enjoy a civil debate. I know this is a simple view but I hope it is one that most of you agree with and you will join me in bringing back.