The Permanent Campaign and No-Compromise...

It has become dang near impossible for national elected officials to govern!  There are several reasons for this, and I am not savvy enough nor expert enough to address all of those reasons.  I mean, this is just an amateur blog-post for goodness sake.

Here are two reasons why it has become dang near impossible for national elected officials to govern...two reasons that are very easy to identify.

One reason that has become blatantly obvious in recent years is that most elected folks refuse to compromise.  How crazy this is to try and govern a country based on a constitution born of compromise...by refusing to compromise!  There is plenty of blame to go around, of course, but the most obvious example of this is the fellow elected as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senator in the Indiana primary.  His name is Mourdock, and here is what he had to say about compromise: "Bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view."  That's just crazy-talk.  But, the fellow was elected, evidently by folks who believe this is the way to govern.

Another reason why it is dang near impossible for national elected officials to govern is because they are in permanent campaign-mode.  No sooner will someone be elected and they will be engaged in their next political campaign to be re-elected!

The Permanent Campaign...the never-ending need to raise millions and billions of dollars to do what, these days, must be done to keep your job as an elected official...is just killing us.  "Killing" because if an organism or an institution stays frozen-in-its-tracks long enough, it will cease to be a living thing.

Its easy to point a finger or two at the problems of non-compromise, and the permanent campaign.  Its not so easy to offer solutions.  However, I am gonna do just that.  Everybody has solutions they would suggest if they were just asked or allowed to offer them...why not me.  Here.  Now.

First off, it is impossible to govern in our society without the ability to, and the willingness to, compromise!

So, why do we voters keep electing men and women who tell us they ain't-a-gonna see somebody else's point of view, and will not work toward compromise?

Secondly, it is impossible to govern in our society while you are continually running to be re-elected!

So, why not longer elected terms-in-office...with maybe a two-term-limit, or something like that?

You probably have some thoughtful answers to these two obvious problems, too.