Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

The appeal referred to in this blog headline – finding what I call the “middle ground” – came this week from an interesting source, none other than U.S. Supreme Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.

He wrote an opinion concurring with the major one authored by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert as it overthrew Donald Trump’s unilateral decisions to impose tariffs – read taxes – without Congressional approval.

The New York Times put it this way:  “…after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, it included a paean to Congress that read like a requiem for a bygone era of legislative power.”

Gorsuch wrote this:

“Yes, legislating can be hard and take time.  And yes, it can be tempting to by-pass Congress when some pressing problem arises.  But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design.  Through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man.”

The Times added that what Gorsuch wrote “was a description of governing completely at odds with what is currently underway across the street from the Supreme Court at the Capitol, where Republicans controlling the House and the Senate have ceded their power to one man — Trump — on a variety of issues. In essence, they are acting as if they have no wisdom to tap, or no business doing so.”

Interesting that the words came from Gorsuch, a Trump appointee and one supposedly of a conservative block of justices on the court.  Which indicates that it often is difficult for anyone to predict how justices will vote on major issues.

Though he doesn’t know me from Adam – nor should he – Gorsuch’s words struck a chord with me because I have long advocated for what the preamble to this blog mentions – the idea of government in the middle ground.

Sadly, the business of finding that middle ground – call it compromise – is missing from government these days, especially at the federal level.

My fond hope is that, at some point in the future, government will return to the art of making solid public policy in the middle.