20160407 (citizen input)

Going outside the established political order is sometimes the only way to get the powers to recognize matters they are averse to promoting individually.

Politics will never be free 

Of protestors nor should 

You want it to be. Those 

Annoying people move

The limits of the possible

So that compromisers will

Feel they’ve done something

Productive when they finally

Give people what they want.

Stated as simply as Bismarck

Said, “Politics is the art of the

Possible,” is a formula for 

Achieving only temporary non-

Solutions to policy disputes. 

Compromise gives each party

Something they want without 

Awarding either what they 

Really desire. Compromise

Kicks the can down the road.

In the acrimony attending 

Debate of the Affordable Care Act,

I remember week after week,

In the face of Republican intransigence

Mr. Obama would release

Exactly what concessions

He would be willing to make

If the Pubs would only come

To the table. You didn’t have 

To be Donald Trump to see the

Folly of his negotiating stance.

They came to the table 

Presuming all of what Obama 

Offered and yielding nothing

In return. Plus the Dems, under

Obama’s direction, gave away

The lion’s share by not even

Allowing single-payer advocates

Anywhere near the proceedings,

Lamely stating if they were 

Starting from scratch such a 

Program would be the only

Way to go. But, since the US

Already had a huge structure

Of insurance-provided health

Care, we all had to accept what

Exists and see how it could be

Improved. Even the staunchest

Resister, Congressman Dennis

Kucinich, was won over as the

Last vote needed supposedly by 

A ride on Air Force 1 with the

President. Also if you recall

Obama made a deal with the

Pharmaceuticals not to advertise

Against passage of the reform bill

So long as it would not restructure 

Their profitable business model.

Politics has such wonderfully

Deceptive maxims for compromises

They want, such as “The ideal is 

The enemy of the good,” while

Retaining their cynical displeasure

Of what they achieve and how

They achieve it, “Legislation

Is a lot like sausage making:

In neither case should you  

See how they’re made.” For

Protestors, lovely, ideals-driven

Human beings, so like the rest

Of us in earnest desire for the 

Better, devoted to the truth,

Who blessedly confront the

Powerful and never tire, for 

Them we thank you, Lord.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016