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 came across a good column in hill.com the other day. It repeated a theme I have been striking for a number of years, including in this blog.

The theme is this: All of us ought to be more interested in the true purpose of politics, which is compromise. We and those who represent us ought to be in the business of finding what I call the “smart middle” because that is where the best solutions lie anyway.

But, today, imbued with energy by the most buffoon-like president in U.S. history – Donald Trump – all of us spend more time, figuratively-speaking, yelling on street corners at the top of our lungs, suggesting that we know the RIGHT answers to all pressing public policy questions.

We also appear to hate those who disagree with us as they yell at the top of their lungs, too. So we avoid even considering where we might be able to meet in the middle.

It is easy to blame politicians, including Trump, for this, and, to be sure, they bear much of the blame. But they represent us and often they feel that, unless they go over-the-top, we won’t listen because we, like them, are prone to discord and disagreement.

Well, I add that, in the first place, listening is a lost art, especially in politics.

Mark Penn, a managing partner in a private equity firm specializing in marketing services for companies and a former pollster for President Bill Clinton, wrote the hill.com piece that caught my attention.

Here is a quick excerpt of what he wrote:

“There’s some very wise political advice in a popular song these days: ‘Oh baby, why don’t you just meet me in the middle?’ America is not a country of the right or the left but a country squarely in the middle and, yet, today’s clickbait-driven world has suffocated the true majority of the country.

“The song goes on: ‘Of just how we got into this mess, got so aggressive. I know we meant all good intentions.’ With shrill rallies on the steps of the Supreme Court protesting nominations before they are even made, our politics is becoming almost a caricature of itself. Even the once-serious New York Times told Democrats that they should ‘Go to the mattresses’ over the Supreme Court nomination, making a reference to the tactics depicted in ‘The Godfather,’ in which rival gangs shoot each other.”

Sound familiar – the “shooting each other” I mean?

Yes, both figuratively and, sometimes, literally.

Penn adds that structural problems in our politics have frustrated the sensible center from solving issues such as immigration. “The most vocal Democratic senators are already running for president and falling over themselves to capture the Iowa caucus electorate, one of the most progressive, far removed from the working-class Democrats in the big states who wind up with too little say in who will be the next Democratic presidential candidate.”

The House Republican Freedom Caucus, on the other end, Penn says, has for years created a breakdown of the budgeting process plagued by delays, government shutdowns and endless continuing resolutions.

“We are nowhere in terms of reforming the process and setting up a capital budget so that investments in the future of the country are treated differently than transfer payments and government salaries. Only such a budget can identify the true current deficit and encourage the right investments in infrastructure.”

Republicans, who often have been unable to agree upon anything amongst themselves, and the current crop of Democratic leaders, have produced a perfect storm of partisanship and gridlock at a time that at least some voters want compromise and action on the tough issues of the day. According to a Harvard Caps/Harris Poll, nearly 90 per cent of the public wants to see politicians reach a consensus rather than stick only to their left-wing or right-wing principles – if extreme positions can be called principles at all.

In the coming mid-term elections, is it too much to ask, as Americans, that we will consider voting for candidates regardless of party affiliation and who will indicate they are interested in solving the nation’s problems from the middle?

The pessimist in me says, yes, it is too much to ask.

The optimist in me says, no, it is not too much to ask.

The realist in me says the jury is out and only the results of the election next fall will tell the tale.