“Compromise is an agreement between two people where each person gives up a coveted desire to bring a close to the disagreement”
Anon
George Santayana famously noted, “Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”
Tragically, very few Americans remember or are even familiar with the consequences of America’s isolationist policies of the last century and reluctance of democratic nations to confront Germany in the early 1930s as it began its program of Anschluss, the forced occupation and ultimate unification of all or parts of neighboring countries, asserting a need to protect their citizens living in those territories.
Taking a page from Hitler’s playbook, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is nothing less than Putin’s first step in a long-articulated plan of reconstituting the former Soviet Union. He has been clear, Moldovia and NATO member nations Lithuania, the other Baltic states and even Poland are potential future targets.
His overly-optimistic goals have been derailed and the Russian army’s capabilities degraded by as much as 50%, at an admitted cost of billions of dollars and lives of tens of thousands of brave Ukrainian soldiers, but notably without the loss of a single American life, other than those few who volunteered to fight for Ukraine.
To halt further Russian expansionism, Ukraine desperately requires additional military aid from the European Union (currently held-up by a Russian-sympathetic Hungary) and the United States where Congressional Republicans are requiring any financial support for Ukraine be tied more aid for Israel and to significant funding for and changes to border security policies. Democrats are generally opposed to such immigration-related proposals, particularly where asylum programs are concerned.
While continued support for Israel is popular, the outcome of that conflict does not pose the existential threat to America were Ukraine fall to Russian forces. The latter would encourage Putin to sending his forces into one or more NATO countries, requiring the United States to help defend those nations pursuant to its commitment under Section Five of the NATO charter … putting American armed forces into direct combat with the Russian military.
If Congressional Republicans and Democrats refuse to compromise and continue their inflexible “my way or the highway” stances, America’s national interests will be compromised and Americans placed in danger.
Democrats must make concessions on funding for border security and certain asylum programs. In return, they should require a guaranteed path to citizenship for immigrants presently protected under the DACA program; most of whom feel fully American other than for their tenuous immigration status and know little if anything about their country of birth.
Rpublicans must quickly approve military and humanitarian packages for both Ukraine and Israel while agreeing to the long-term citizenship assistance for DACA individuals who have not been convicted of a major felony.
Adopting such reasonable compromises to their party’s conflicting political goals represents what Republican and Democratic politicians should do … take into consideration and prioritize the important and serious interests of our nation and its diverse people, not just those who support or voted for them; thereby setting an example of how statesmanship and compromise can preserve a democracy.
