Have we lost the ability to negotiate and compromise in the political arena?

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   pagesvoiceposted 7 years ago

   Have we lost the ability to negotiate and compromise in the political arena?
   
   We seem to have a tendency to vilify and demonize those with opposing political views or affiliations. There is a nastiness afloat unlike anything before. Social media and special interest groups flood us constantly with information meant to incite and inflame our emotions. It is now either my way or the highway regarding political issues. Regardless what you may think of Ted Kennedy, the fact remains, he was a master negotiator who freely worked deals across party lines. Radicalism, whether it is right or left needs to tone down. Do you agree?

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   bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years ago

   Dennis, with all due respect, when was the last time that congress negotiated or compromised? imo, Ted Kennedy was not a negotiator he was a manipulator. What is your definition of Radicalism?
   I do however agree with your basic premise. imo, the news media is fueling this incitement to get viewers.

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      Kathleen Cochranposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      "Ted Kennedy was not a negotiator he was a manipulator."  Potaato - Potahto.

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      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Kathleen, Is that supposed to be a comment, or a failed spelling bee?

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      Cre8torposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      She's right though.

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      savvydatingposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Dan...How is she right and why do you agree? Do you not know that blanket statements without any explanation are useless in debates? In any event, we have a seemingly 'kindly' author in pages who is guilty of omission....

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      Cre8torposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I was agreeing, not debating. However, negotiation & manipulation go hand in hand if you're a good negotiator that is. Deceit is a connotation not requirement of manipulation. Condescension doesn't help a debate either unless you only seek to deb

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      pagesvoiceposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, Yves...I'm not guilty of omission. You see, like you during the Oscars, I have a life outside of Hubpages. I am glad to see you participating. I find it amusing that you claim to be a relationship expert and you endorse a known sexual predator.

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      savvydatingposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Luckily for me, my heart is clear and my mind is calm. As your stated, "There is a nastiness afloat unlike anything before.
      pages, Thank you for giving us yet another example of your "nastiness."

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      pagesvoiceposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yves - Unlike a fantasy world of alternative facts, the truth of the matter is actual facts can be extremely nasty.  I'm sorry if you are having difficulty in accepting this.

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      savvydatingposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I do not have difficulty accepting facts, pages. Not sure how you came up with that fallacy. Must be a Leftist thing. Anyway, did you not vote for the predator Clinton and his wife, whose list of corrupt activities are too numerous to print here?

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   Dean Traylorposted 7 years ago

   I believe we're increasingly losing that ability. There are several reasons for it.
   For starters, we live in the age of hyper-partisanship. People have taken sides and are not willing to hear the other side. The problem is that most of the people on this site are not the type to compromise. They're in attack mode.
   Secondly, fake news and  the plethora of ideological views in the media outlets have manipulated the way people think about politics. Most of these outlets (in particular AM talk radio) take sides and the consumers of these outlets fall for it hook, line, and sinker, despite evidence that can contradict some of the rhetoric from this media outlet (sorry for being too general on that, hopefully you understand where I'm getting with this).
   Finally, I believe that the political arena on this site is being dominated by those that have no clue how to debate. They believe that to win an argument is to scream, yell, belittle and attack anyone with opposing views. Even when you politely point out that  they were using information from a fake site or had misinterpreted something, they want to call you all kinds of colorful names. I can't really say that all we have to do is calm down and start listening to others' arguments. In truth these people need to start reading things beyond their own core beliefs or learn to experience or empathize with others with different point of views.
   I hope something like that will happen. However, I'm becoming very pessimistic that that will ever happen.

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      Misfit Chickposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I like to think that these chaotic worldwide situations are happening to cause the growth of civilization: simple people are learning how to share & concerned people are learning how to deal with ignored extremism. Life lessons often hurt like he

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   savvydatingposted 7 years ago

   You mean, like when you said,
   
   “Those on the right just don't know how to handle democrats who fight dirty like they do.”
   
   “The Supreme Liar in Chief is the Russian buddy who is currently in the White House.”
   
   You might want to take your own advice.

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      Misfit Chickposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      First quote is so true, LoL! Trump & Co. have been celebrating repeal of PC & you are seeing results. I would NEVER have called peeps a direct name like T-fool or T-dork b4; but untrue 'leeberal' accusations of MODERATES incites equal jerkdom

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   Sherrod Dixwellposted 7 years ago

   Unfortunately we have as people have been so politically fueled and are now almost permanently polarized between radial right wing and the liberal left. Our tolerance as a society as gone from slim to now none at all. Without the ability to compromise in the political arena with institutions such as Congress, we have gotten nothing done for the people for the longest amount of time. We need to come together as on universal national community, peacefully debate the issues, and compromise on what we can do about it without getting heated and without being sensitive to the issues we have at hand.

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6. 79

   Misfit Chickposted 7 years ago

   
   
   Having grown up in a Christian right-wing home, things have always been like this - no compromise, no bipartisan policies, etc. The Internet is just a spotlight; and we are ALL learning how to deal with things like fake news & hateful troll comments that are so aggressive behind their webmasks.
   
   And, we are learning how politicians manipulate the media on both sides - with the past 8 years of GOP cultivating HATE among their base being this election resulting in Trump.
   
   Evangelical Christians BELIEVE if they compromise, God will judge this entire country & strike it down with righteous vengence (cuz his 'do away with the law & sin' speech thru J's supposed death & resurrection means nothing).
   
   When your entire mindset runs on fear - you get nothing but fear in return. You reap what you sow & out of the heart the mouth speaks. Its no wonder why so many thrive on fake news & conspiracy theories.
   
   Relax, I realize that there are MANY atheist liberals in Trump's camp. But, you hijacked the conservative party so you will be lumped in with them. Besides, the spitefulness some of you are so proud of isn't any better.
   
   The American people practically had to force the Republicans to work on the Affordable Care Act with the Obama Administration - and they have obviously resented it every day, since - even though some of their contributions made it better. If they actually had a DESIRE to make it better, yet - they could. But, most GOP believe that policy to be an outright 'sin'.
   
   In fact, ANY policy that is meant to unite the country as a whole is considered to be suspicious because it suggests a move toward a 'one world govenment'. And since a one-world government is a foundation of their beloved apocalypse - it is something that needs to be feared & fought against because no one fears death more than a Christian, LoL!
   
   Its bizzare that they are SO SCARED & fight against this stuff as if they could really alter whatever plans the Almighty might actually have for us. Oh that's right, they consider themselves to be doing 'the work of God' on his behalf - like he would need it.
   
   God managed to create this entire world without your partisan input; and he created every variation on diversities that you can think of - and yet, SOME of you are insisting that the US should become 'just your' version of the Kingdom of God on Earth - when the Kingdom is already HERE still being molded since the 1st day humans began inhabiting this planet.

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      pagesvoiceposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham have the audacity to claim Trump is the chosen one to keep Israel safe from destruction. Oy vey.

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   promisemposted 7 years ago

   Yes. And look no further than the posts on HP's Answers and Forums.

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      lovemychrisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      yes. its, "I demand proof of russia hacking, I demand proof! but, "where'd you hear that obama ordered a tap on trump towers?"...oh, a right wing talk radio host .....DERP

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   Mrinmoy2017posted 7 years ago

   The question is contemporary not only for American soil but also in world politics. Finding independent media is very hard now-a-days, because most of the leading media houses are occupied by the big corporates. They sale the news as a commodity, and no social responsibility they care for.
   
   Any right-wing party use the media even social media too, and always try to hallucinate among the poor and less educated people, who are not able to analyse the right-wrong things due to short term gain.
   
   The same symptom we the indians have been witnessing since few years. The dangerous thing is the right-wing forces do not spare Nobel laureate and attacked him, 'hard work is better than Harvard'.
   
   Their non-sequitur conclusion, makes pathognomy and divide the working class globally.
   
   If we minutely follow, we will not find any concrete precept and that is the predicament of present politics.

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9. 69

   Ken Burgessposted 7 years ago

   There is a break down of civility and compromise in D.C. politics these days because the politicians stopped serving the best interests of the people about 25 years ago.
   
   The problem they have now, is that they are desperate to convince America that it is the opposition's fault... the majority of these old cronies are Democrats (Pelosi and Waters) though some Republicans are just as bad (McCain, Graham)... they will do and say anything to divert Americans from the truth that they have been selling out to Corporate, Bank, even foreign nations.
   
   We could go down a line of all the Disasters they have gifted us... Deregulation, Glass and Steagall repealed in 1999, NAFTA, CAFTA, 2008 Bank Bailouts, ACA...
   
   Plenty has been passed in Congress the last 25 years... most of which has made the majority of Americans poorer and underemployed, it has made wages stagnate, has allowed tens of millions of immigrants and refugees to enter and put a heavy burden on our social supports, which hastens the growth of the national debt.
   
   We are ten years removed from a recession.... Trump has promised many changes that need to occur... trade agreements, infrastructure, the ACA... no matter what side of the aisle you are as an American... we all can agree changes need to be made for the betterment of all.
   
   But the politicians don't care... they are too busy continuing to make our lives harder, and our futures dimmer because of all their squabbling and obstructionism, this stems from Congress... they were a pain in the but for Bush, for Obama, and now contemptably so for Trump.
   
   The worst of all this... is we used to have this big build up... of arguing and fighting, that would END after an election, for a while, until we started nearing the next election... not now... the bitterness in Congress is worse than anything seen in a generation... and both sides are now starting to rally and fight one another on the streets:
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8znjXnaRPw
   
   The above is a link to news about the fights breaking out at various rallies across the nation yesterday.
   
   Something is really amiss, and I don't trust the media to tell us what it is... you have a better chance finding out what is going on in America these days from a foreign media news source, than from one produced in America.

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    lifelovemysteryposted 7 years ago

    There is a lack of respect and decency that I have never witnessed in this country. An elderly man was sprayed with mace at Berkeley University by a fellow citizen. He wasn't sprayed by police. He was sprayed because he was wearing a red baseball cap with the words, 'Make America Great Again'. This man was showing his support for our fairly elected President.
    
    What gives a citizen the right to attack someone for wearing a hat?
    
    This behavior is beyond despicable.

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       lovemychrisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       Well, there was a cop who pushed an 87 yr old woman down and maced her friend, and they were anti trump. if you recall at trump rally's, violence was encouraged. BY trump! fish rots from the head....too late to fix it now. they want it they got it.

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