There is little consensus-building going on in Washington these days and in the void the American public has built consensus in opposition to the federal government. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat or an independent there is plenty to be upset with these days. Whether you believe in market based or public solutions there is reason to be unhappy with the machinations of the federal government.
Anyone who has either been through win-win negotiation training or used Steven R. Covey's methods from his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, knows that "compromise" is a dirty word in terms of a win-win solution as a compromise is defined as partial wins - partial losses for each party.
Congress seems to become myopic whenever the balance of power swings to an imbalance. The Senators and Congressmen seem to think that they have been given a mandate and quickly slip into a world of assumptions about what the public needs rather than what it wants. When the frame is "what the public needs" it empowers ideology over pragmatism and ultimately leads to abject failure in both policy and legislation.
Ideologues of all stripes spend their time wishing they had just enough power to force their ideas into law and policy. Its as though they believe in their own potential to truely behave as beneficent despots. True solutions in a democracy (democratic Republic) always require consensus building. Consensus building can lead to a win-win in the real world but can not be produced with ideological purity.
Once again, a political party is poised to fall on its own sword because it confused winning in the halls of Congress with winning in the real world or serving the will of the people.
Anyone who has either been through win-win negotiation training or used Steven R. Covey's methods from his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, knows that "compromise" is a dirty word in terms of a win-win solution as a compromise is defined as partial wins - partial losses for each party.
Congress seems to become myopic whenever the balance of power swings to an imbalance. The Senators and Congressmen seem to think that they have been given a mandate and quickly slip into a world of assumptions about what the public needs rather than what it wants. When the frame is "what the public needs" it empowers ideology over pragmatism and ultimately leads to abject failure in both policy and legislation.
Ideologues of all stripes spend their time wishing they had just enough power to force their ideas into law and policy. Its as though they believe in their own potential to truely behave as beneficent despots. True solutions in a democracy (democratic Republic) always require consensus building. Consensus building can lead to a win-win in the real world but can not be produced with ideological purity.
Once again, a political party is poised to fall on its own sword because it confused winning in the halls of Congress with winning in the real world or serving the will of the people.
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