Politics, A Lost Art #256 By Hank Silverberg Politics is the Art of Compromise. At least that's what we are all taught in Political Science 101. The model for good government was supposed to work like this: each side of an issue presents their position and why they think they have the best solution on a particular issue. Then there's debate, and after some discussion, which can get heated they settle on a compromise. Each side gives a little and our lawmakers end up with a solution that may not make everyone happy, but a solution that will work well for the majority of the population in "providing for the common Defence and general welfare of the United States" as it says in the Constitution. It didn't always work that way, but that was the idea. If you are under 50, you have probably never seen this kind of compromise, because sometime in the 1980's or early 90's, this concept simply disappeared from many decisions by federal,