Compromise is part and parcel of a FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACY.

[Writer]

There's nothing weak about compromise. There's nothing weak about reaching out to the other, listening to his or her words, and striving to discover common ground. There's nothing weak about casting aside stubborn ideology for discursive democracy and transcending one's basest natures to reach a greater idea. There's nothing weak about swallowing one's pride in order to reach a greater goal for a greater number of people.

Nuance isn't wobbliness. Nuance derives from earnest evaluation and thoughtful consideration. Nuance isn't the product of incapable decisiveness; it's about carving broader concepts into their parts, then their parts of parts, until the inner-fibers of the concept become clearer. Nuance permits one to render ideas historically, set within the context of the many fibers that created our lives yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Ahistoricity is the enemy of realistic self-assessment, and nuance permits us to avoid that terrible demon.

How much longer will many Americans climb out of the constricting box of angry, stubborn ideology and encounter the other in an effort to form the more functional idea? The weak ones are those who refuse to break themselves free from their ideological chains, who feel so comfortable with the cold shackles of irrepressible righteousness that they refuse to see any good in the other. One possesses strength - and true freedom - if one separates the rest of the world from oneself, discovering an entire world of thoughts, ideas, passions, and beliefs that are fully separate from his or her being. The world becomes a place to dwell in - not an extension of his suffering self.

And the entire world benefits.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Here, it makes you a "DLC toadie." nt

[NightWatcher]

2. isnt "compromise" when both sides give a little? How many repukes voted with Obama's stimulus plan?

esp after Obama changed it for the repukes?

[Writer]

3. If the Republicans aren't bargaining in good faith, then that's THEIR problem, not ours.

On to those who will negotiate honorably, and on the subject of health care, some are.

[Better Believe It]

4. It's a two way street. Democrats give and Republicans take.

[glowing]

5. Some things are non-compromisable.. I believe many things in our

democracy have compromised common good and good wisdom... Things like shelter, food, clean air, clean water, and healthcare are items that have been compromised in this democracy... and it breeds divisions when basic human rights are compromised... which makes communities divided and destroyed.. and I think the common thread is greed, money, cronny capitalism, and power... and those things are not about party lines.

[Enrique]

6. compromise seems to me to be a liberal value

it leads to progress. Conservatives tend to be the flamethrowers who try to poison the discourse and dehumanize the opposition, so as to make compromising as difficult as possible, and therefore stop progress, which of course is what they are there for.

It's the same with international relations, they are afraid of peace initiatives and so they equate peace with weakness, they always go back to Neville Chamberlain and call everyone an appeaser.

[Nite Owl]

7. A plan that starts with a

'a public option' and leaves the insurance companies intact can only go down from there. You always ask for more than you intend to settle for in negotiating you don't start with what you want. A chance like this won't be coming along again in the near future and the dems seem to have blown it.