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.

I have long been an advocate for finding middle ground in politics, the area between Republicans on the right and Democrats on the left where the best policy solutions lie.

The idea of middle ground is a basic tenet of politics, which has been defined as “the art of compromise.”

But compromise has become a dirty word. And, even worse, Democrats in the nation’s capital this time around don’t even want to consider compromising. Republicans preceded them in opposing middle ground during the Obama years, especially on what came to be known as ObamaCare.

The reason for Democrat intransigence this time (which will even be more evident as they deal with the reality in the Senate that the House passed legislation today to avoid as government shutdown):

Wall Street editorial writers put it this way in regard to the current showdown over government shutdown:

“Washington is going through one of its hoary melodramas with the threat of a partial government shutdown at 12:01 Saturday morning if Congress doesn’t pass a funding bill. These are usually worth ignoring, but in this election year we are likely to see more such showdowns. So it’s important to understand the rule of shutdown politics: Democrats want a shutdown but Republicans will get blamed for it.”

Notice the phrase. “Democrats want a shutdown but Republicans will get blamed for it.”

So, that’s what is going on behind-the-scenes in Congress.

More from the Wall Street Journal:

“Democrats don’t want to take yes for an answer. GOP leaders want to negotiate a two-year budget deal separate of negotiations over immigration. But Democrats are refusing, though the date when new work permits will no longer be issued to the so-called Dreamer immigrants is the first week of March.

“Democrats are refusing even though the tentative budget deal being hashed out behind the scenes would also give them a big increase in new domestic non-entitlement spending over two years. Republicans would get more defense spending. Such a deal will give more Republicans heartburn on the policy merits, but Democrats still won’t accept.

“On Wednesday Democrats were even refusing to accept a short-time spending bill to fund the government for a month that includes reauthorization of the CHIP program for children’s health care. Democrats have spent weeks attacking Republicans for not reauthorizing CHIP, implying that children will be denied care.

“Democrats think a shutdown will improve their chances of retaking the House and Senate in November. Everything they do, every decision they make, is a political calculation with that in mind. Thus supposedly grave moral choices like children’s health care and legal status for immigrants are more important as political battering rams than as policy accomplishments. Dysfunction is desirable because Republicans are nominally in charge and will get the blame.”

Now, some of you may emphasize that Republicans played this same political gotcha game when they opposed president Barack Obama.

Yes, true enough. So I say a pox on both parties in Congress.

What we need is new blood in Congress and in the Oval Office, new blood that will be willing to compromise for the benefit of all Americans, not just for those who seek to stay in power.

Before that happens, there is little doubt but that we’ll have to endure more “government shutdown politics.”

As Americans, we’ll also have to change how we look at political figures. The test should not be whether they agree with us and are willing, figuratively, to yell loudly on the street corner to get attention. Iy should be whether political figures are committed to finding middle ground solutions.

Third-party candidates anyone?