Why “Compromise” Has Become A Dirty Word

 

Why “Compromise” Has Become a Dirty Word by Mark over at Mark America

 

Barbara Bush complained on Monday that “compromise” had become a “dirty word.” If that’s true, it is only as a result of how it has been abused by liberal to moderate Republicans, the media, and the liberal establishment that dominates the country. Mrs. Bush is part of that establishment, so quite naturally, she is unable to see this the way the conservative base of the party does, and since she’s one who considers herself smarter than the rest of we ignorant rubes, it is now probably high time that somebody explained the problem with “compromise,” not as it is defined in the dictionary, but as it has come to be understood by most grass-roots conservatives who recoil at the word.

 

A real “compromise” is the result of a process by which both parties to an exchange get some part of what they wanted in exchange for having yielded a little. A compromise is an exchange, if you will, trading value for value as in commerce, but it extends to many intangibles. That’s what compromise is supposed to be, but these last two decades and a bit more, that’s not what compromise has been in the United States. Instead, compromise has come to mean something else entirely, and if you ask conservatives, they will now tell you that it is approximately this: Republicans (particularly of the Establishment class) surrendering on principle to the left, gaining nothing, and getting nothing but a promise of “getting along” that never materializes, but always winds up in another kick in the teeth.

 

If Mrs. Bush doesn’t understand this, it’s because in her insular view of the world, she doesn’t see the kicks in the teeth, and the principles at stake are not hers. It’s a relatively easy matter to yield principles belonging to somebody else, and the Bush family has a long history of doing just that. They make a pretense at being conservative, but there’s little substance behind the claim, and if truth is told, more often than not, they’re at the root of many of the sell-outs conservatives have suffered over the last two-and-one-half decades. Even before the breaking of the “Read my lips” pledge of George H.W. Bush, the elder Bush administration had begun to back-track from the idea that his was a third Reagan term, which had been the basis for his election.

 

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