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 my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), 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.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

In politics these days, especially in Washington, D.C., a major motive is to get even for alleged past sleights.

When you hear about such issues, it strikes you more like a bunch of young kids playing around than it does about elected officials who are supposed to be part of ruling the free world.

Nowhere is payback more evident than in the current turmoil over appointments to the House Intelligence Committee where the House Speaker gets the last word.

That means the speaker, Kevin McCarthy, plans to get even with Democrats when they demoted two of his colleagues from committees a year or so ago.  They were Representatives Marjorie Taylor-Green and Paul Gosar.

Frankly, they were guilty of making violent threats against the lives of Democrats in the House (guilty because both posted social media messages to that effect).  It got both booted off committees, with at least some agreement from Republicans.

Now, McCarthy says he will refuse committee seats to two Democrats – Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Sawell — who have served on the Intelligence Committee for several years.

In response, House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries formally has tapped both Schiff, Swalwell for seats on the Intelligence panel, a proposal which heightens another tiff between both sides in the House.

According to the Washington Post, Jeffries told McCarthy this:  “It is my understanding that you intend to break with the longstanding House tradition of deference to the minority party Intelligence Committee recommendations and deny seats to Ranking Member Schiff and Representative Swalwell.  The denial of seats to duly elected Members of the House Democratic Caucus runs counter to the serious and sober mission of the Intelligence Committee.”

Now, it would be possible to distinguish past actions against Green and Cosar with the current planned demotions for Schiff and Salwell.  Greene espoused extremist beliefs and voiced approval of violence against prominent Democrats, while Gosar posted an animated video depicting the killing of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and violence against President Biden.

For their parts, Schiff and Salwell mainly disagreed with Republicans, though it has been alleged that Schiff at least stretched the truth in some of his musings.

This is only one major incident of the payback strategy.

Others are:

• Impeachment:  Republicans are more than a little irritated that Congress, under Democrat control in recent years, mounted impeachment processes against former president Donald Trump.  The Rs in the House now say they may do the same to President Joe Biden and some members of his cabinet.
• Classified papers:  In a column that appeared under this headline — The Biden Classified-Document Payback; Democrats stoked the Trump bonfire for years.  Now it’s put them in political hell – Wall Street Journal columnists Daniel Henninger says the time has come for payback.

Here is how he wrote about the current fracas:

“You know that a country’s politics has become unhinged when its politicians forget one of the fundamentals of their profession:  What goes around comes around.

“All that stuff about ‘my friend’ and ‘the gentlelady’ flows from knowing that, if a politician overdoes the torment, his opponent will spend years waiting for the moment of payback.  Exhibit Z is a sitting president saying about his predecessor:  ‘How could anyone be that irresponsible?’  Now comes the Democrats’ predictable crucible with everyone’s former good friend, Joe Biden.”

This comment related to the fact both Trump and Biden had classified papers in their possession.

The Rs intend to make Biden and Democrats pay for what they call “stoking the fire” of concern over Trump’s classified document haul.

This, Henninger adds, “is the permanent politics of retribution, and it can get worse.  The investigations of two special counsels — Robert Hur for  Biden and Jack Smith for Trump — will hang like two cement shoes waiting to drop across 2023 and perhaps into the 2024 presidential campaign.”

So, is there a way out of payback?

Who knows?

For one thing, it would require elected officials to act like mature adults rather than like immature children, which may be too much to ask.

For another, it would require the same officials to work to find what I call “the smart middle ground” on major political issues.  Again, probably too much to ask.

Finally, Henninger asked this about the classified papers deal:  “What would King Solomon do?  Herewith a way out of the Trump-Biden dilemma:  A grand plea bargain.  We the people pardon both Messrs. Trump and Biden (including Hunter).  We will drop everything against you if in return all three of you will just go away.”

Not a bad idea.