THAT DIRTY LITTLE WORD

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

We’ve got a bunch of babies running our country. Yes, you heard me right, babies! Sticks and stones will break their bones and names will surely harm them.

Simpering, whimpering, dickering, bloviating fools have usurped the American government. We’ve got a cry-baby speaker of the House, John Boehner; a whining House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor; and a President Barack Obama, whose Mama apparently never taught her little boy to have the courage to stand up for his own convictions, never mind have them.

Like I said: Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

As the August 2 debt-ceiling crisis looms, on Capitol Hill childish temper tantrums rule the day. Eric Cantor had one last week and walked away from the deficit talks. Last night Speaker Boehner did the same. Weepy-eyed he pulled out of the deficit talks, refusing to budge on revenue increases, a teen-age pre-mature ejaculation if ever there was one.

Is there even one adult in the room?

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

Like kids on a see-saw, our leaders play their politics. Both sides want to be up, no one wants to be down, and that compromise position in the middle where each gives a little seems unattainable. Compromise, of course, is the mark of an adult. Unfortunately, it appears that on the playground that sits on the bluff of the Potomac, there are no adults.

There are nothing but intransigent little kids who enjoy playing games with America’s future, this season’s favorites: Russian Roulette, Chicken, Duck Duck Duck, Goose!

But why should we be surprised? If you, as I do, subscribe to the theory that our leaders reflect our society, then why is the lack of compromise on Capitol Hill such a big surprise?
After all, fifty percent of all American marriages end in divorce undoubtedly due to U.S. couple’s utter inability to reach compromise. Which begs the question: When did “compromise” become a dirty word? When did compromise become synonymous with defeat? I’m old enough to remember a time when reaching a compromise was considered a win-win for all.

Once we considered compromise an accommodation, an accord, a happy medium. Today we treat compromise as a concession, a sell-out, a cop-out.

“Cop-out, sell-out” do these words ring a bell you children of the Sixties?

Wow, far out, the counter culture has become the culture. Whatever happened to peace, love, and understanding? When did it turn into peace, love and MISunderstanding? It’s mind-blowing. What a freak out! What a bummer! What a bad trip!

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

There are solutions to every problem, and one can only hope that in a happening town like Washington, D.C. there is room for compromise. But as I said, compromise requires the presence of adults and clearly there are few of them on Capitol Hill.

Groovy. So how do we get there? I say treat the babies running our government like the children that they are. Lock both sides in a room with the instruction that no one leaves until they make-up and do what is best for America: compromise.

And watch them flip-out. I can almost hear the wailing coming from the Hill.

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

On the other hand, they just might do the right thing. Right on, bro’. Beautiful, baby.


Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sundays at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.