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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.

It used to be that politics was defined as “the art of compromise.”

No longer.

To many, compromise is a dirty word. For me, as a retired lobbyist, the fall of compromise from the political lexicon is bad news.

It makes good sense for middle ground solutions to exist when policymakers face difficult issues. It should not just be “win or lose.” The process should allow, if not value, finding solutions in the middle.

That’s one reason why, during my career, I enjoyed lobbying more than running election campaigns.

In the former, middle ground exists. In the latter it does not – it’s only win or lose.

We face these realities in today’s version of politics:

• Donald Trump and other Republicans on the right (if that is really where Trump belongs?) ignore political processes to advance their own causes – no compromise.
• Democrats running for president and various members of Congress on the left want government to handle nearly every issue. They, too, avoid compromise at all costs.
• Voters across America also are fault because they reject notions of compromise as being evil since only “their principles” matter – no compromise.

So, these definitional phrases come to my mind to chronicle the sad state of politics today – phrases that are more accurate than the old one, “politics is the art of compromise:”

• Politics is when you go out to the street corner (figuratively at least, if not literally) and yell about how right you are on every issue.
• Politics is when you call someone who doesn’t agree with you stupid, ignorant and just plain wrong all of the time – often in words that impugn the character of those who disagree with you.
• Politics is when you stand on what you call principle to justify your behavior when no ethical, moral principles are involved.
• Politics is “my way or the highway.”

In my work as a volunteer member of a committee appointed by Oregon Common Cause to propose ways to restore ethical conduct as a hallmark of American citizenship, my colleagues and I have worried a lot about the loss of trust in government.

In the case of public impeachment hearings in Washington, D.C., testimony from witnesses and questions from committee members illustrate that trust is up for grabs in America.

In fact, a recent PEW Research Study reported record levels of mistrust in institutions of government, religion, business and media. Since the Watergate hearings, which are now a distant memory for many Americans, ethics has receded as a matter of public concern.

That is understandable given the conduct of public officials on both sides of the political aisle who display “credentials” such as those in my list of political phrases above. It is bad news for this country.

One way to restore trust – one way, at least for me – would be to return to a position that compromise is a worthy, ethics, trustworthy goal.