Compromise is impossible – politicians are punished at the ballot box.
Greenblatt 12 [Alan Greenblatt; politics writer for over 30 years; 12-16-2012; What Shut The Back Door To Congressional Compromise; NPR; https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/12/17/167250343/what-shut-the-back-door-to-congressional-compromise; 7-27-2024; AO]
Those days are over, of course. Now, congressional majorities typically seek to pass even minor bills without any support from the other party.
At crucial junctures such as the current debate about tax and spending priorities, top leaders are left without negotiating partners they know they can deal with.
"A good compromise requires a modicum of trust and a tone of political bravery, and even then is not universally acceptable," former GOP Rep. Bill Frenzel of Minnesota writes in a Real Clear Markets column looking back on bipartisan dealings that led to a budget reduction act in 1990.
But compromisers are often punished at the ballot box for deal-making, Frenzel points out — including President George H.W. Bush, as a result of deals he made with Democrats that led to the budget act.
"The electorate is impatient, unhappy and eager to devour its representatives at the least sign of weakness or impurity," Frenzel writes.