Going into politics is a lot like wrestling with a pig. You
both get dirty, but the pig likes it.
By nature politics is a dirty business, and it is impossible to get involved in
the process without getting a little dirty because politics demands compromise.
Compromise is often considered a dirty word. We are not
proud of compromising our principles. We avoid compromising situations. We
don’t want to compromise when it comes to value. We consider compromise somehow
a weaker position. We often consider a politician that has reached a compromise
as a sellout. He or she becomes someone who has gotten dirty by wrestling with
the pig.
If rights, liberties, justice, and the rule of law are the
stones we must use to build a sound representative government, then compromise
is the mortar used to hold that government together. A politician that isn’t
skilled at using the mortar of compromise will find it very difficult to build
anything of lasting value.
We would like to believe that our nation was forged in the
patriotic fire described by Patrick Henry when he said, “Give me liberty, or
give me death!” It is true that a fervent zeal for freedom beyond the desire
for life itself was necessary for us to break the yoke of bondage, but it took more
than fire. It took compromise.
When the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the
necessary framework for managing and governing a nation such as ours, a
Constitutional Convention was formed in 1787. Patrick Henry declined to attend
saying that he “smelt a rat.” As a representative to the Virginia convention,
he voted against ratification of the United States Constitution.
Another famous Virginian by the name of George Washington
took a different tack. As commander of the Continental Army he would often
propose a course of action to his council of war, but then change course based
on the urgings of his subordinate officers. He was elected as president of the Constitutional
Convention and put his political clout behind the various deals that allowed
for the document to come into existence. Under his direction, delegates hammered
out several deals such as the three-fifths compromise, the commerce compromise,
and the great compromise. Washington wasn’t afraid of wrestling with that pig,
and went on to be our first president.
We often view our founding fathers as uncompromising pillars
of patriotism that never deviated from their positions in the name of
compromise. Nothing could be further from the truth. They were men of great
passion that risked their very lives for an idea. They pledged their lives,
liberty, and sacred honor to a cause. They never compromised when it came to
their love for freedom and the right to self-government, but they were skilled
craftsmen with the mortar of compromise. They used the mortar of compromise and
the stones of principle to build a constitutional government that has stood the
test of time.
I am grateful for the Patrick Henrys of today that will lay
down the gauntlet on an issue and rally us to a worthy cause, but I tend to
look for someone more moderate and willing to compromise when I vote. I look
for someone that mirrors my values and principles, but I also want someone
pragmatic and willing to incorporate good working ideas even if they come from
the other side of the aisle. I don’t want a rigid, uncompromising robot unable
to reach agreements or strike pragmatic deals.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, January 8, 2012
at Sunday, January 08, 2012
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