Essay On Congressional Compromise

1598 Words4 Pages

In an era of intense partisanship and gridlocking, most Americans would agree that congressional compromise has been abandoned. Citizens who have voted their entire lives feel frustrated that there is little progress being made by congress to resolve major issues. Instead of attempting to make necessary concessions to make congressional progress, members of both parties have insisted that their stances must not be compromised, refusing to find an achievable middle ground. While it is understandable that no citizen should be expected to completely abandon the ideals that they have fought for, certain changes can be made to move forward and appease the nation as a whole. Take, for example, the Citizens United ruling. One of the most controversial …show more content…

Not to say that finding a suitable agreement for either side is easy, but if both sides are willing to make concessions, it is entirely possible. It should be clear that the biggest issue for Democrats is the power given to corporations is greater than the power given to the common man. While the majority want the Citizens United ruling repealed, the most important issue is for the rights of the common citizen to be protected. In this regard, there are similarities with the conservative stance. Valuing the sanctity of free speech, Republicans typically value the ability to freely voice their opinions, just like Democrats. If it requires changing the law instead of repealing it, most would Democrats would likely concede on this front. Also, in regards to keeping super PACs, they can remain in the political process, with one exception. As long as corporations are not given a platform of unlimited power, as many view the situation now, the ruling would be more acceptable. While it is understood that Republicans feel that any financial limit on corporate financing is limiting their First Amendment rights, there needs to be some sort of regulation on corporate funding to super PACs to reduce the power that the corporations have compared to the citizen. Perhaps the funding could be set to the amount that corporations pay in taxes, as to promote corporations from abusing tax loopholes. While theoretically unlimited, corporations would limit themselves to a reasonable amount to spend on their super PACs without abusing the system. This means that corporations are free to spend as much as they please, but they have to better regulate their funding of super PACs. Perhaps not a perfect compromise for either side, both liberal and conservative minded ideals are achieved through this

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