Admitting We Were Wrong

Reading for Today

This article reminds me of one of my biggest pet peeves in the political world.  We seem to have developed a phobia of admitting our mistakes, particularly in the public forum.

Throughout our formative years, we are always being told that if you make a mistake, you need to admit to it, learn from it, and correct it going forward.  We praise people for being self-aware enough to admit when they are wrong and learn from it.  And most of all, our culture is full of anecdotes and cautionary tales showing the horrible consequences of trying to cover up our mistake.  Most people would probably agree that if Richard Nixon had merely come out and admitted that he screwed up at Watergate, it wouldn't have been the huge issue it turned into.  Instead, it was the cover-up that did him in.  Even in sports, we praise the people who come clean about steroid use and pillory the ones who try to deny it, even if we have no proof that they did it.  We spend a great deal of time praising the person who can admit their mistake, quietly accept the consequences, and move on.

Then there is the political arena.  It seems that there can be no more heinous an act than to change your position on an issue.  It is apparently a mark of ideological impurity when you change your opinions, even over a scale of years.  (Check out criticism of McCain in 2008)  As you can see in the first article linked, people are maintaining positions even though they are incorrect merely to avoid "inconsistency".

This is ridiculous. When we point to the great political moments in United States History, many of them are built around the word "compromise". This is literally defined as "An agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions." By changing their stances in order to ensure agreement, the Founding Fathers were able to come to a number of compromises that are vital to the existence of this nation (Great Compromise) 

A look at our political leadership today will show you a great deal of "those guys over there aren't agreeing with us, it's their fault we can't get anything done!" (Here and Here)  What you won't find is much in the way "OK, let's sit down and figure this out."  The understandable American distaste for "politicking" has led to much of this.  Ask around, and you will probably hear lots of people complaining about how "politicians will pander to anyone, they'd sell out their mothers to get what they want."  I'm sorry, that's what they should be doing.  With a two-party system, you will run into situations where a large percentage of people won't see eye-to-eye on an issue.  Without people willing to make a deal, and give up a demand here to win a concession there, nothing gets done.  

People with strongly held opinions are a great thing, they drive debate, and they can motivate causes.  What they cannot do, however, is run a government.  If you hold your views too strongly, you are unable to pick and choose which of them you can compromise on in order to achieve a larger goal.  Looking back at the great politicians in history, we can point to their abilities to ascertain the big objective and then make the deals that are needed to get there.  The only time someone who steadfastly clings to their positions can get anything done is when they are the sole decision maker.  Since we have a long tradition of opposing tyranny in this country, this is a rather inappropriate form of government.  

Now, this is about the point where you're all looking at the people across the spectrum from you and nodding, saying to yourself "yeah, those darned Republicans, if they would just calm down about the whole abortion thing, we could get everybody health care"  or  "those greasy Democrats, if they would just relax about the whole environment thing, we could get the economy going again."

Stop it.

No, really, we need to move politics away from the podium and back to the negotiating table.  Until we learn to revere the deal-makers again, we will be stuck in this gridlock.  If we look back at history, this was a nation founded on commerce, our leaders have generally come from the ranks of successful businessmen and their families.  This isn't a coincidence.  Businessmen and women are successful because they understand the value of compromise and the importance of making a deal work for all parties.  The people who are successful are the ones who understand that it's not about winning every battle, it's about balancing your concessions so that you come out ahead in the long run.

Let's stop blasting our leaders for the very traits that make them effective.  Bring compromise back to the table.