The Debt Ceiling, The Civil War and Health Care

When the Tea Party, the Republicans, the Democrats and our nation's leaders take political positions based on their articulated fundamental principles, they demonstrate that they have learned nothing from American history.

Our Civil War,  fought on the basis of deeply held non-negotiable principles, scarred our country and its families, leaving  the South with a deep sense of tragedy from which it has never fully recovered. Fundamental beliefs cannot be negotiated and cannot be compromised.  Individuals and parties, unable to walk away from their articulated fundamental beliefs, cannot move the political process forward.

Today, we have a debt ceiling impasse based, not on common sense and the need to solve our problem, but on "fundamental beliefs" which are not to be compromised - which, for the Democrats, means an attachment to social policies which ameliorate perceived societal wrongs and needs (including changes to our health care system) - and for Republicans, become tightly glued to beliefs about the unfairness of taxation, redistribution of America's resources, and "private" enterprise.

I hope that politicians make the political process work. Failure to move compromise forward will have serious national consequences, at a time when many American families are already touched by a national sense of tragedy.