Commentary: 'Compromise' wasn't always a dirty word
With the House in the hands of Democrats and the Senate controlled by Republicans for the next two years, compromise will be essential to the passage of any legislation. But it won't come easily. We live in an age in which compromise is often interpreted as weakness and penalized at the next election. Our congressional districts, in which most seats are safe for one party or the other, reward candidates who appeal to the most uncompromising elements of their parties. This whole system has fostered a mind-set that makes politics war by other means.
It wasn't always so. In the early years of the American republic,
