One of my earliest memories is my dad teaching me the word "compromise." (He thought that would make me an obedient child. His strategy did not work.)
If a 5-year-old can grasp the concept of compromise, one would expect grown men and women to understand it--especially when the stakes are high.
But as we saw with the fiscal-cliff disaster at the end of 2012, this isn't always the case.
In typical Washington style, neither party would bend--at least, not enough to strike a deal--until the deadline had passed.
We could argue about which side is more at fault. We could debate whether Sen. Harry Reid was right when he accused House Speaker John Boehner of running a "dictatorship," and whether Boehner was justified in his not-so-subtle response (yelling expletives at Reid in the White House lobby).
We could talk about what some consider a failure to lead by President Barack Obama; others contend that Obama couldn't take any more of a hands-on approach until the Republicans managed to get their acts together.
But regardless of the details of the fiscal cliff saga, the most important question to be asking ourselves is: What can we learn from this about our political climate, and what can we expect in the future?
As for the latter question, more of the same, folks.
The 24-hour news networks preach apocalypse during every political showdown-- looking at you, Wolf Blitzer-- which only feeds a splintered political climate. And in that climate, we see a broken system. Both parties have moved so far from center that they can't see the middle of the road anymore.
As we all know, trying to drive a car, or run a government, becomes perilous when you ignore your own blind spot.
But how can they get away with being such extremists? Voters hold them accountable for their actions, right?
Wrong.
As Tom Brokaw pointed out on "Meet the Press" Dec. 30, a huge chunk of representatives hail from gerrymandered districts-- meaning they don't have to worry about voters giving them the boot.
"They only play to one constituency," he said. "They don't go home and have to prove their case, because they've got a choir back home."
It makes government of the people, by the people and for the people feel more like government of, by and for party radicals.
In the absence of bipartisan compromise, we see bipartisan fault for the situation. And until our leaders in Washington acknowledge that the fault lies on both sides of the aisle, the outlook is bleak.
Of course, politicians will blame each other. We, the people, may also feel inclined to blame the opposing party. If so, we must take a good, hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we too have a blind spot.
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