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The Failure of Compromise
Submitted by Bill.Scher on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 9:04am.
In one of Sen. Harry Reid's first radio addresses after the Democratic victories in November 2006, he said the new majority's first guiding legislative principle was "bipartisanship"; Democrats "intend to reach out to President Bush and our Republican colleagues in Congress." The Democrats' last guiding principle would be "results," because "it's time Democrats and Republicans worked together to achieve results."
Four months into the new Congress, how's that game plan working out?
There's not a lot of results. And you can blame all that attempted bipartisanship.
Time and time again, Democratic leaders have sought to accommodate the conservative Republican minority and craft compromise legislation. And in almost every case, it has led to bad or no results.The accommodationist tone was set early on by the Senate.
After the House passed in January an extremely overdue raise in the minimum wage, Senate conservatives and the White House immediately whined that the bill needed business tax breaks to "offset" the extra $2.10 an hour.
Instead of standing up to such nonsense, daring the conservative minority to sustain an extended filibuster and face the 80 percent of electorate who supports raising the minimum wage, Democratic leaders immediately flinched. They sought to put together a tax package that would pacify those senators completely out of step with the voters.
No political price was exacted for opposing popular legislation. And with that, power shifted. The Republican minority was putting pressure of the Democratic majority, not vice versa.
Soon after, Senate Democrats backed bipartisan compromise legislation on prescription drugs. Instead of requiring the Bush administration to negotiate for lower drug prices, as the House called for, Senate leaders proposed a bill that would allow negotiation but not require it.
Even though the bill would let the president's Medicare officials continue sitting on their hands while the pharmaceutical industry rakes it in, conservative senators took that bipartisan compromise and buried it in a filibuster.
After that, Democrats followed Sen. Ted Kennedy's lead and let Big Pharma-loving conservatives neuter a provision that would have allowed cheaper drugs to be imported from Canada, so a broader Food and Drug Administration reform bill could reach the president's desk.
In recent days, we've seen higher-profile compromises reached, none of which look likely to be embraced by the public.
Last year's immigration reform bill scored 62 votes in the Senate, but conflicted with the conservative House bill. After the GOP's anti-immigrant rhetoric drove the Latino vote away and contributed to the loss of Congress, momentum should have been with humane reform.
Yet key Senate Democrats concluded more compromise was needed with conservatives. The deal managed to upset immigrant advocates and anti-immigrant nativists, and is unlikely to become law. But even if it does, it's not going to solve the problem of our broken immigration system, let alone the underlying problem of the economic gulf between us and our southern neighbors. If the results don't actually help people, they won't be praised by voters as real "results."
Skepticism over flawed trade agreements has been rising in recent years, and several new congresspeople won on a platform of trade reform. Nevertheless, Democratic leaders cut an informal deal with the White House, seemingly extracting some minor concessions on labor and environmental standards, but lacking strong enforcement provisions, and maintaining the misnamed "free trade" structure that has failed to protect workers and lift up economies.
The coup de grace is the Iraq compromise, which is not a compromise at all but a full capitulation to the White House which wants the occupation to continue against the will of both the American and Iraqi peoples. Granted, it's not fair to expect Congress to actually end the occupation when you have a commander-in-chief that doesn't believe in equal branches of government. But by voting for an extension of the war, despite prior legislation that mandated combat troop withdrawals, Democratic leaders risk being perceived as complicit in the deeply unpopular war.
The lone upside is that the minimum wage compromise (including $5 billion in unnecessary business tax breaks) was slipped into the Iraq capitulation.
Some may view that as creative legislating. But if it takes funding a massive war supported by only 34 percent of Americans to pass a long overdue pay raise supported by a whopping 80 percent of Americans, that doesn't bode well for future legislation.
And therein lies the rub. Democrats have thin congressional majorities and can't easily erase the veto pen. The compromise strategy may not yield a lot of good results, but is there another option?
Yes. Consistently articulate substantive policy principles, so the public knows what and who you're fighting for.
Craft bold legislation based on those principles, so the public knows you have a plan to realize that vision.
Fight for those bills, create conflict with conservative obstructionists, generate media attention and build public support. Either public pressure will crack the opposition and you will get good results now, or filibustering conservatives will be the ones paying the political price come 2008, and you'll get good results in a couple of years.
Whereas settling for middling bipartisan results now may impress some in the Beltway punditocracy. And it surely makes conservatives in the White House and Congress thrilled, as they can get their way without having to worry about winning elections or even earning decent poll numbers.
But it will not impress voters who perceive -- fairly or unfairly -- their new Congress as failing to try to change the status quo.
The new Congress kicked off with Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia challenging President Bush to "allow our combat forces to leave Iraq" and address "the economic imbalance in our country," promising that "if he does not, we will be showing him the way."
It's time to start showing the way.
Originally posted at the Campaign for America's Future blog
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That's a lot of words to say "they suck".
Will you ever talk about a different politicial party?
One that your words won't be so wasted on?
I'm sure any one of them would appreciate the attention.
Drumb beat
Seems to me that they don't care and won't untill summer 08 IN TIME FOR THE ELECTION. Transparent burocrats.
Learn to Fly
The immediate root action by Dems. is looking to the next election and pandering to the media. The re-election strategy of getting the Reps. to get "on the record" is all about building a perception that the Dems are this and the Reps. are that. The Dem. leadership is angling to repulse the next swift-boating with their eyes firmly rooted in the past. Still no leader, no shining light showing the path.
The pilot of this airplane is on drugs and if we want to land this plane we are going to have to learn to fly. (extra points if you know where that image came from.)
eya Bill!
good to have you here.
Bgurl fell asleep with the TV on, i woke up at 3 AM, turned it off and tried to go back to sleep…
(i’m working on a SF story where those 3 AM infomercials are ‘possessed’ and all those sleepy ladies like Bgurl get programed subconciously to wake up and feed thir husbands through food processors and heavy duty bread makers)
i gave up and made coffee and turned on the ol internet pipes and then spent the morning trying to figger out ways of pissing off enough people that they’d do something about these assholes.
what i notice is that people constantly want to believe this is all unintentional, accidental and NOT being done on purpose despite thousands of bits of documented evidence of the scams behind this all.
wanna a fresh biscuit? we got good homemade Peach preserves!
Time for the Dems to compromise with us
I have unsubscribed from every Democratic Party newsletter that I was receiving. I no longer will contribute to DP orgs. When the DP telemarketers call, I am quite specific about why they will no longer get my hard earned money. I urge every progressive to join me in sending a message to the Democratic hierarchy that support from the left is not a given.
Ha!
the Department of Homeland Stupidity!
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/
eya bill
tell ya what i'm looking for
i'm waiting for people to quit being suckers for this whole labeling scam.
framing it's sometimes called.
we need the quantum leap of being willing to work together with any people concerned with the dangers of unregulated corporate goverment.
that simple eh? go beyond some of labeling and resolve some of this petty Repub/Dem bickering.
they use it to divide us when the truth is we all have more in common than we differ.
forget the talking heads, they like having some "party" turf staked for their own reasons. that keeps it simple for them. that way they don't have to deal with 'complicated',
that make any sense to you Bill?
Thank you. I've had it with
Thank you. I've had it with these cowards.
absolutely
Yes Jim, you're right on. I had a post several months back calling for "principled bipartisanship," as opposed bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake. Articulate your core principles, and reach out to all parties to craft legislation based on those principles. If you rally enough support for those principles, Republicans who know what's good for them will come your way.
Oh Bill....
Who will be the brave one who decides to take on the government from the perspective of the population being represented?
Will it be Sam?
I mean maybe less than 30 people and a lot of comedians is not a huge start...but so...? He should go for it..dare to be different...
:)
Thanks for adding some "legitimacy" to the new blog...
Oh Alice...
it's you again...
you fat
ugly
nazi-hippie
"the system is working"
Oh Alice...
Oh Bill....
Oh Alice...
Oh Bill....
Oh Alice...
Oh Bill....
"the system is working"
...
Oh Alice...
"the system is working"
Stand Up and Demonstrate Leadership
Rather than consistently articulating substantive policy principles, many Democratic politicians practice spin and triangulation. Then we hear more spin from pundits and the media.
Who and what are representatives and senators fighting for now?
Themselves? Lobbyists? Campaign Supporters? Constituents? Citizens?
Yes, I agree. It is time for Democrats to take a stand and fight for their principles. Enough equivocation!
We, the citizens, might actually learn about their principles.
Stand up and demonstrate leadership.
Regarding the issue of crafting bold legislation, there are some progressive bills being introduced by members of Congress.
The challenge appears to be convincing Democratic leaders in Congress to fight for those bills.
The progressive community has been successful in building better coalitions -- including groups like MoveOn.org, TrueMajority, and an active network of bloggers.
The progressive community is continuously learning how to use its leverage to influence policy makers, members of Congress, and Democratic leaders in key positions.
How do you more effectively generate citizen activism and build broader public support?
How do you inform the public today about proposed legislation in our corporate dominated media?
It's time for the Democrats in Congress to lead the way.
Otherwise, constituents will start showing Democratic politicians the way to lose in future elections.
tanks Bill
appreciated the response!
i watch the miscues here over and over and i have to speak out. theres a tremendous scattering of focus when people look only at the labels and ignore the individual uniqueness we all have. ie. i like to set things up so people can change their minds instead of falling into conditioned responses based on divisive manipulation by power elites
the situation needs some evolutionary progress and i reach towards the bread and butter issues to gain traction.
the gas prices are a godsend in that it causes people to pay attention to the basics of living. from there they can be shown the other hazards pending that wre affecting them and their families.
i'd love to see this evolve into family based political involvement and ultimately consensual governance.
i've been up since three so i'm afraid this may lack clarity but hopefully you can fill in a few of the blanks.
yak atcha later!
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