Op-ed:
Bipartisanship and Compromise...Measuring Success and Failure
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor
This opinion piece is my opinion alone, and does not necessarily
represent the views of blogspot.or google.com
As
I write this we are just about two weeks away from the midterm
elections...an election not only important to Republicans who wish to
see President Trump's agenda reach its final fruition, but an election
that is just as important to Democrats who believe that they can stop
what they consider to be an agenda against democracy itself. And yet,
as voters, we still find both parties to be unyielding, unwavering,
and unwilling to even try to compromise on anything they now consider to
be part of their party's agenda and/or objectives.
And
when you add in the fact that both sides refuse to even listen to
what the opposing side has to say, then we as a nation find ourselves
faced with the distinct possibility that the uber conservative far
right has...albeit maybe unbeknownst to them...actually shaken
hands with the uber liberal progressive far left. One and the same in temperament while being polar opposites in core beliefs, a party
scenario not good for our country itself nor for the collective
known Constitutionally as, “We the People.”
So
what exactly, in this case, would help to comprise a successful
governmental and political discourse, or at the very least come
replete with a purpose? To that I say, how about our elected
officials really striving for a bit of Reagan style
“bipartisanship”...as in the
time when both Republicans and Democrats actually
worked together and compromised...the time when both sides of the
political aisle willingly chose to put hateful, divisive, and
nonsensical rhetoric aside for the good of our country, and for the
good of the sum of “We the American people.”
But
as simplistic as it might sound in concept, here it's important to
remember that our country today is not only divided along the usually expected Democrat vs. Republican...liberal vs. conservative...party lines, but
by the growing fractures within each party themselves.
For
Republicans its the pro-Trump camp vs. those who now have...and I
believe rightfully so...what's referred to as “buyers remorse.”
And for Democrats it's now the mainstream and middle of the road
Democrats...JFK Democrats as they're sometimes called...vs. the new
Gen-Z driven breed known as “Democrat Socialists,” folks
who would love nothing better than to see our beloved America disintegrate into a clone of socialist style Europe, or even more so
into what is abject communism. You know where freebees and handouts
become the required and mandated new norm...capitalism be
damned...and where the word “bipartisanship” is not even
allowed to be part of what has become their new “collective
style” vocabulary.
Simple
translation...the general populace must all be on an equal
level...albeit at the bottom rung of the proverbial economic ladder...while
those in charge sit fat and happy at the ladder's top.
An
America destroyed from within...an America being destroyed by their fellow
Americans whose voices of the few shouted much louder and longer
than did the voices of the many...voices of what is deemed political righteousness now being drowned out by the voices of entitlement...entitlement meaning
that what is yours is mine, there is no need for me to work for it. Simply, in what is today's version of unbridled progressive liberal speak, it tends always to come replete
with what is an unhealthy dose of DEI thrown into what has become the
proverbial political mix.
And
a perfect example of this can be seen in the economics and the
political landscape of what is today's Trump era of
economics...economics being surely not the same as it was during
Reagan's time of strived for “bipartisanship”... yet many
Republicans still compare and contrast the components of the two
economies in regards to the overlap of one era over the other...with
the hot button issue of tariffs being a current example.
But
first let's begin with the fact that during the Reagan years we did
see double-digit inflation and prime interest rates
hitting nearly 20% (thanks to the ineptitude of Jimmy
Carter)...while today, as I write this, those rates under Trump are
3.4% and 7.00% percent respectively.
However,
don't start jumping for joy for while Reagan championed
“supply-side economics”...as in “free and open
markets,” and that economic growth was best achieved by
lowering taxes, reducing government regulations, and promoting “free
trade” to increase the “supply and demand”
production of goods and services coming into our country...the fact
remains that there existed no
economic warfare or ridiculously high tariffs under the Reagan
presidency...the
very opposite of under what is President Trump's watch today.
And
this aspect alone allowed the American consumer back in the
1980's to not feel those higher rates nearly as much on a day to day
basis, neither at the grocery store nor at the
pump, then they do today under Trump's tariff influenced economic
agenda. Remember too, whether some want to hear it or not, that
Trump's overburdening raise in tariffs does indirectly translate into an additional tax on we the American consumer.
Now
in regards to what's referred to as “Trump economics,” we
see a total turnaround from what once was“free trade”
under Reagan now being buried under the weight of aforementioned
overburdening tariffs...where tariffed countries are forced to raise
their prices on goods coming into our country in order to help pay
for the Trump raise in tariffs...a
vicious circle now resulting in many Americans being quite unhappy
with the seemingly day to day rise in groceries and at the
pump as we pay for the raise in price on goods via what are taxes.
And
Trump's reasoning behind said tariffs remains his belief that tariffs
protects domestic manufacturing, helps in shrinking trade deficits,
while also helping to pay off the national debt, which is still
increasing under Trump's watch, and has surpassed $40.050 trillion
as
I was writing this article, as per the U.S. Debt Clock.
So
much for Trump's claiming that tariffs would help to lower the
national debt, something President Reagan claimed tariffs would never
do...something Trump should himself have known as both the president
and as a successful businessman.
So
now that two Republican presidencies have been compared and
contrasted in regards to key elements of their economic agendas,
let's discuss why “bipartisanship”
worked regarding Reagan's economic agenda, but unfortunately it's not
working for Trump, and it goes beyond his unwillingness to discuss
anything even remotely related to the word, “compromise.”
And
here is where the temperament, personality, and oratory style of the
two men does come into play regarding both their economic successes
and failures...more successes than failures for Reagan...more
failures than successes for Trump. Why so...because when ones ego is
allowed to overtake reality...when one thinks and speaks as if they
alone have all the needed answers...then the word “compromise”
is and remains a non-starter and plays no part in their political
discourse...a sad state of affairs indeed.
“Bipartisanship”
is not nor should it ever be thought of as a political dirty word for
at its core remains but the simple reaching of what is “common
ground”... where
our commonalities outweigh our partisan differences in order to do
what is right for our country and for “We
the American People”...the
very people we elected to office to work for the common good.
And doing so should involve both “compromise”
and the willingness to listen, while the act of negotiating itself
is what would allow for a meeting in the middle, thus “compromise” is successfully reached.
But
in today's world it now seems that loyalty to one man and to his
party outweighs even the willingness to listen, and is exactly why we
find ourselves at a political crossroads where neither Democrats nor
Republicans want to even sit down and talk to each other let alone
listen. Gone, seemingly, are the days when Reagan was able to work
in tandem with his Democrat opposition in Congress, and together
accomplished dedicated acts of “compromise.”
And
this included when in 1983 both parties worked together in the spirit
of “bipartisanship”
and
jointly
pass much needed “Social
Security”
reforms, thus saving the program from what was then a bankruptcy
crisis. And “bipartisanship”
worked
again via the “Tax
Reform Act of 1986”...which
not only simplified the U.S. federal income tax code, lowered top
marginal tax rates, eliminated numerous tax shelters and loopholes,
but saw many
Democrats
co-sponsoring said act in conjunction with Republicans. Too bad we're far from seeing such cooperation and love of country today.
But
here the question then becomes why so, especially when both
Presidents Reagan and Trump did and do love this country? Simply
because, in my opinion, the want for what should be acts of
“bipartisanship”
has now been drowned out by those with loud voices and misplaced
loyalties...as in loyalty to a man and to a party instead of to
what's best for what is now a deeply divided America. And with Trump
continuing to rely on “partisan
reconciliation” and party-line votes to get things passed in Congress,
he likely sees “compromise”
as being a liability...as in a watering down of what he wants to get
done with consensus...thus working with Democrats seems not to be an
option.
Sadly,
when all is said and done we nor Trump can go back to the time of
Reagan because the voices and discourse of today remain blatantly angry and unyielding in both tone and rhetoric especially now in a
time of war...a war the Democrats opposed on constitutional,
economic, and procedural grounds. And when said war is coupled with
what many believe to be strategic miscalculations and mistakes made
by our Commander-in-Chief...the sum of the political discourse itself
in relation to both economic and foreign policy decisions...tends
to be set back even further.
So
with the midterm elections now fast approaching, and with the Iran
War and the economy not being on par with what we were promised they
would be, we Americans face what could be a split down the middle
reality of a Democrat controlled House and a Republican controlled
Senate, which means that unless “compromise”
and
“bipartisanship”
becomes the order of the day 2028 might truly become a free-fall disaster. I wonder what Reagan would say and do
to remedy that. Case closed.
Copyright
@ 2026 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
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+ War = A Maybe Midterm Loss...Part Two'; the maybe Moscow summit; Iran updates; and Where's Ilhan? On https://rspradio1.com Click 'LISTEN LIVE.'
