PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

When will it end?  Taken to its logical (or is it illogical?) extreme, never.

I ask in relation to the unfortunately predictable tendency in politics these days that one bad turn deserves another.

Think about it. Neither side gives up and so, what we have in our governing structure, is gridlock and disagreement, often without any sense of personal decorum.

To this, I say, a pox on both houses.

The current example of one bad turn deserves another relates to the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Because Republicans refused to consider the nomination of Merrick Garland in the last months of former president Barack Obama’s term, Democrats were incensed, though many of them in previous cases, opposed nominations in lame-duck administrations.

Out of their sense of irritation and indignation, they now return the favor by declining to vote to confirm or not confirm Gorsuch.

In much the same way as would occur in a play on stage, each side talks about its position as of they had memorized their lines. Each believe it is right. No quarter is given. Neither side gives up.

That’s another reason why I have reached – or, at least, am reaching – a conclusion that America’s two-party system of democracy is in dire jeopardy. Perhaps it already falls in the category of a lost cause.

Let me add this caveat. I am not arguing against the role of advocates on either the left or the right – public employee unions on the left or so-called “big business” on the right. First, to place either group fully on one side or the other is to do an injustice to them. But, second, even if the labels fit, I do not argue against political involvement by either side or all sides, even though, on most occasions, that involvement does not argue for middle ground; it argues for adherence to a particular point-of-view.

Involvement by those and other groups is part of the political process in this country and, so, I say, let all voices by heard.

But, my hope is that good minds in Congress – yes, there are some on both sides – would find a way to separate the wheat from the chaff, to use a Biblical reference. I would like them to be able to rise above one-upsmanship and find the smart middle ground.

Americans deserve nothing other than a Congress that works to adopt useful compromise on the major public policy issues we face today.

And this footnote: If you wonder why regular Americans don’t understand how Congress works, just consider the filibuster, the technique Democrats in the Senate intend to use to avoid a vote on Gorsuch. It is not part of the Constitution, just an artifact about how the Senate operates. In the old days, under a filibuster, senators could literally talk an issue to death. All they would have to do is to stay on the Senate floor and keep talking regardless of the subject. The record is held by Senator Strom Thurmond who kept talking for 24 hours to avoid a vote on an anti-segregation bill. Today, there is not the “talking filibuster,” but rather simply a vote against “cloture,” an old word that means ending debate. In the current case, Republicans intend to use their majority to change the rules to invoke cloture with a simple majority and allow a vote on Gorsuch.