We Need Bi-partisan Solutions

What’s wrong with bi-partisan solutions?

Compromise produces solutions.

Ever since Newt Gingrich instituted the current GOP “take no prisoners” political strategy, bi-partisan solutions to the nation’s problems have gone nowhere.

Healthcare is the latest victim.

After the Senate failed in several attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump issued an executive order purporting to end the subsidies paid to insurance companies that enabled lower premiums for coverage. The resulting outcry was swift and merciless.

Without the subsidies to make premiums affordable for millions of middle class folks, many would have to go without coverage. It turned out that as many as 70 percent of those receiving the subsidized premiums live in states that voted for Trump. Betrayal is a brutal political move.

Part of Trump’s message when he issued his order was that it was up to Congress to fix the problem. Congress is stuck. Not enough republicans can come to agreement on a fix. Ultra conservatives are still holding out for Obamacare repeal. GOP moderates are willing to look reality in the eye and reach across the aisle for help. Many democrats are stuck on a single payer, Medicare for All, plan and oppose anything less. Some are willing to cross the aisle to forge a short-term solution that at least maintains the status quo until a more comprehensive fix can be forged.

Enter Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) who put together a short term fix that would extend the premium subsidies for two years to keep people insured until a better plan can be enacted. It was a truly bi-partisan effort and gained co-sponsors from both parties, including one of our own Senators, Tammy Baldwin.

Trump initially supported the idea in phone calls with Sen. Alexander and public comments on Twitter, his favorite platform, and elsewhere. After pushback from those in the ultra-right like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and others, Trump appeared to switch course, claiming he could never support bailing out insurers.

It remains to be seen if the Murray-Alexander bill will command enough support to get out of the Senate and over to the House for a vote where it will have a much tougher row to hoe for passage. It does represent, at least, a ray of hope that bi-partisan solutions can still be found.

Our government works best when the people we elect to represent us are willing to compromise. We have a lot more in common and than our leaders think and are willing to recognize. Ideological purity is the single biggest impediment to progress and the ability to find solutions to common problems.

No single bloc in the American body politic commands a sufficient majority to exert total control over the reigns of government. Even with simple voting majorities in both houses of congress and a president of the same political party, republicans cannot command enough votes to advance an effective agenda. There is too much of a spread in the spectrum of the conservative right to get it done. Even with extreme gerrymandered congressional districts to support continued GOP rule, the spectrum spread will prevent a totally unified response to the issues we face.

It is time to put aside the labels of conservative, liberal, republican and democrat and to ask candidates who want to represent us in the halls of government how they plan to govern. Are you going to hew the party line or listen to all the voices? Are you going to seek real solutions to our common problems or let your personal preferences govern your decisions? Are you willing to work with all of your colleagues or just those in your party?

Our new era needs leaders committed to public service, not personal aggrandizement. They need to listen to the diverse voices of the nation, not just their isolated constituents. The need to work to see   the pressing issues of our time, not merely to align them with their own world view, but in a way that allows for input from all points of view to find a workable solution.

It is easy to stake out a position and claim its validity to the world. It is much harder to consistently re-examine that position in light of new facts or arguments and to be able to admit you were wrong and change your mind. We deserve leaders and representatives who are up to that challenge and willing to embrace it wholeheartedly.

Waring R. Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled.