Now comes the hard part: Compromising.
Yes, compromise. Bipartisanship. Working across the aisle to govern where most people are: in the middle.
And that’s indeed where most of us are, right? Somewhere in or near the middle, with ideas, viewpoints and positions that may cross party lines depending on the issue. Thats’ where I am.
Proof came on Tuesday.
- South Milwaukee is a 50-50 city, one that sided with three Democrats (Barack Obama, Tammy Baldwin, and Gwen Moore) and a Republican (Mark Honadel).
- Wisconsin is a 50-50 state, one that put a Republican-led legislature in control at the same time they supported Obama and Baldwin.
- The United States is a 50-50 country, one that re-elected Obama and a Democratic Senate … along with an overwhelmingly Republican House.
And in most cases, races were tight, split almost down the middle.
Lawmakers on both sides would be wise to remember that. I fear they won’t.
Instead, I fear they will see Tuesday’s election as a mandate and try to govern in their interests, neglecting to remember that about half of their constituents likely disagree with them.
They’ll certainly tell us they’re willing to work with their counterparts to advance good ideas, Democratic or Republican, and that they’ll truly compromise. They’ll talk about bipartisanship … then most likely firmly vote the party line on legislation that doesn’t reflect any notion of input from the opposition.
They’ll do this because partisanship is easy.
Extremism — ignoring the other side and ramming through an agenda simply because you can, because you happen to have a few more votes in your legislative body than the other party – is simpler than the alternative.
Compromise is that alternative. And it’s hard.
It’s hard to admit you don’t have all the answers, that the opposing party may have good ideas, too. It’s even harder to then engage the other party in bringing those ideas to life. And it’s still harder to write legislation that incorporates those ideas, and get it passed.
There are a couple good tests of this coming soon.
First, there is that much-publicized “fiscal cliff” looming in Washington D.C., where a combination of significant tax increases and spending cuts may automatically take effect on January 1 – unless the president and lawmakers can make a deal to avert them. It’s a deal that will require both sides to give up something they want so we can avoid signficant damage to our economy.
In Wisconsin, we have the mining bill. South Milwaukee Rep. Mark Honadel has said this is his top priority when the new Assembly is seated, and I’m interested to see which version sees the light of day: the version that passed the Assembly last year, one that was too extreme for even some Republicans, or something that resembles the compromise version that nearly passed in the end.
Both cases — and many, many more — scream for bipartisanship, lawmakers working together to come up with common-sense solutions that reflect Tuesday’s election results and the divided state of the city, state and country.
Will legislators recognize this and act accordingly? We’ll see.
A quote from former Democratic State Sen. Tim Cullen from earlier this year still stays with me. He said: “I came to Madison as a centrist, and I discovered there was no center.”
We need more center.
South Milwaukee Blog 
I guess the way Obama care was passed would be a stellar example of compromise.
It wasn’t, and that’s my point exactly. Both parties are guilty of this.
Great Comment Kim!!
well, the “party of NO” made it clear early on that it would do whatever was necessary to make certain that President Obama failed…
The president failed on his own. The “party of no” is the democrats. Obviously you’re too blind to see that. Good luck in life.
So, how are we going to get more people employed? Is the government going to force small businesses to stay open when they are loosing money? I’m still waiting to hear the Feds solution on how they will create jobs. Many companies are closing or laying off people. I don’t know how they expect tax payers to fund the government when they are bringing little to no income home. Food prices have risen, gas prices have gone up, private health insurance have gone up. And now we get to expect our taxes to rise by the new year. http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/
It does appear to be a 50-50 nation/state/city at first glance, but I think a more accurate stat is closer to 52-48. Nationally, self-identified Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 4 percent. With the exception of Gwen Moore, the elections you cite in which Democratic candidates prevailed were at-large, i.e. state (Senate) and national (President/VP). The elections you cite and those in general (i.e. the House of Representatives and the Wisconsin legislature) in which Republicans prevailed are districts with boundaries set for the political party that’s in power when the 10-year census is conducted. That was the Republican party in Wisconsin in 2010. So the predominently Republican Wisconsin legislature and House of Representatives is not an accurate reflection of the political makeup of eligible voters in the country. That said, I do hope those who have been elected will set aside self interests, political agendas, ideologies, pledges to unelected and non-constituent entities and individuals, and work for the public interest.
jhayslett: Good points all, and I hate the fact that so much of the control of our state legislature and the House depends on who draws the maps. That’s a broken process that needs to be fixed.
I’d also argue that 52-48 is 50-50. Because today’s 52-48 in favor of Democrats now could easily be 52-48 the other way soon enough, and has been in the not-too-distant past. +/- 2 points of 50% demands compromise.
Interesting analysis, but the bottom line is that the majority have voted for a welfare state instead of a working state/country. Thousands of businesses have abandoned plans to expand and hire more workers. Now they are making plans on how to reduce staff or make people part time to avoid the punitive taxes set to come their way compliments of Obama care. To Jim’s point Obama didn’t fail, he accomplished everything he set out to do, and now he will finish the job. Regarding the election, “Good by America we are going to miss you”.
Amen to that!!
There really isn’t a center. You have to pick sides. I will always go for the side that does not use religion as a basis for governing. I am not religious…I do not believe in a so called “God” that will send me to hell if I don’t believe in the Bible…so I don’t want my elected officials governing based on their religious beliefs…whatever they may be. Once a politician brings up “God” you know they are weak and have nothing to run on. They are just hoping there are enough religious fanatics out there to carry them. It’s a shame. Intelligent and well thought out policies…based on facts…are what we need.