By Jeffrey Page
Let me say here, high up, that I was taken to task recently by a Zest reader, Duane Small, when I chided all sides in the debt limit fight for their inability to understand and employ the concept of compromise. To which Mr. Small responded: “Why is it, when one side has offered to give up almost everything it believes in, and the other side has offered to give up nothing, everyone who writes about it blames both sides for not compromising?”

An excellent point. I wish I had grasped it when I was writing that previous Zest piece.

The fight is over – for now at least – and the barking among House and Senate Republicans and Democrats, the president, the speaker, and the Tea Party is finished – for now at least. In the sudden quiet and calm, we recall:

That if anyone had even a scintilla of doubt, the Republicans have proved they really are the friends of that most oppressed class – America’s poor and struggling millionaires – and pass along to the rest of us the responsibility to pay to make the country work.

That Exxon, which reported second-quarter profits of nearly $11 billion, will continue to receive tax breaks.

That the fight over raising the debt ceiling will be reignited sometime in 2012.

That President Obama, wishing to prove himself above the fray, is a lousy compromiser because his idea of meeting the other side half way to conciliation is to wave a white flag.

That if the Republicans can resist nominating one of their resident goofballs, and if the nation is still saddled with high unemployment in 15 months, President Obama’s gone.

That President Obama could have done himself a lot of good by dropping the good manners, calling a news conference and declaring to Boehner and Cantor and McConnell, “Get stuffed, boys, the answer is no. Let’s settle it in the parking lot.”

That if the Democrats continue their current way of doing things, anyone betting on the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is a sucker.

That maybe what rational people need is a tea party of their own, an organization that will stand defiantly before groups of voters with its own one-word responses. Tax cuts for millionaires? “No.” End of discussion. Spending on social programs? “Yes.” End of discussion. You don’t like us? “Trust us, we’ll do more for you than the Republican protectors of millionaires.”

That the enormous agreed-upon cuts in federal spending will prolong the national economic lethargy and high unemployment by depriving people of government jobs rebuilding the infrastructure, which is in tatters.

That it’s time to make the links by, for example, informing decent people of the connection between Michele Bachmann and Joe McCarthy when she declares: “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?”

That for all the yelling in the debt limit debate, we’re about right where we were when it began. And that’s no place to be.

Jeff can be reached at jeffrey@zestoforange.com

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