Wishes And Opportunities

New opportunities often look different before and after you take them on.

Over the years, our staff members have had many different employment opportunities. Some we'd categorize as WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get - some have been better than they initially appeared, and some have been what at least one of our staffers calls a "farbut" opportunity.

For the record, a 'farbut' opportunity is one that looks good from afar, but it's far from good.

Today, there is at least one opportunity we're very happy not to have presented to any of us, the job of U.S. Secretary of State, which John Kerry will officially begin when he is sworn in on Friday.

Senator Kerry, currently of Massachusetts, will be touring his homestate today one final time, in a dual capacity - both as a farewell tour to his constituents and as a kind of warmup tour for what will be the many, many, many miles that he'll travel as U.S. Secretary of State.

While Kerry has long coveted the position, when we look at the challenges facing him, we can't help but wonder if Mr. Kerry is also wondering if this was a farbut opportunity for him.

To start with, America's strongest ally in the Middle East, Egypt, is still going through some unstable growing pains. One of America's other long-time Middle East allies, Israel, appears to have just chosen to pick a fight with it's neighbors in both Lebanon and Syria.

Speaking of Syria, that nation has been embroiled in civil war for two years, and it's also upsetting its neighbors with a seemingly ever-growing wave of escaping refugees, and a bleak outlook for peace anytime soon.

Dealing with nations like these in the Middle East is only one facet of the Secretary of State's job.

Secretary Kerry will also have to deal with less-than-stable future relations in Iran and Argentina, an unpredictable North Korea, a growing China, and a European Union still deeply wounded economically by rampant austerity.

Kerry will also have to deal, back in Washington, with his former colleagues in Congress, some of whom seem intent on letting the brutal and inefficient budget cuts of the Sequester take effect. If that damaging Republican-championed austerity does take effect, you can be sure Secretary Kerry's former colleagues will attack him for not fixing the problems at State that their deep budget cuts will cause.

Still, as many on Capitol Hill have known for years, John Kerry has been wishing for the opportunity to be Secretary of State - and now his wish has finally come true.

All we can say is, be careful what you wish for.

Having The Last Laugh

As President Obama noted in his immigration address on Tuesday, "It’s really important for us to remember our history." The crowd laughed with him, as they did at many points in his speech, though we doubt they were laughing for the same reasons we were.

The President also said more than once, that "The time is now," for immigration reform to pass. These are not new words for him, or a new idea for him to present to the nation. In fact, as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, President Obama made a nearly identical speech on immigration in May 2011.

Know who else has proposed some of the same general ideas on comprehensive immigration reform already? President George W. Bush, back in 2007 - and again last month in a rare public speech in Dallas.

Yes, Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama - as well as the majority of Americans - are all on the same page regarding this issue, mostly for the same reasons: it's the right thing to do and it will help our economy.

Somehow, it's still no surprise though, that some in the Republican Party still think that comprehensive immigration reform is a silly idea.

We're well aware of those Republicans who are still under the delusion that Hispanic voters are a "natural constituency" for the GOP, and of the racists in the GOP like Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA). It's not just some backbench legislators in the Republican Party who are racists, though.

As journalist Nick Baumann discovered recently, two prominent conservatives have been running a PAC - a Political Action Committee - that gave thousands of dollars to "white nationalists." One of the two conservative leaders also has long-standing ties to another racist organization.

It also doesn't change the fact that the one major issue most of those currently in power in Republican and conservative circles fought President George W. Bush on, was comprehensive immigration reform. This is a topic that many in the media just seem to be waking up to now, though our staff members have been openly discussing this fact on Twitter with conservative writers for some time.

That President Bush still supports comprehensive immigration reform, for non-selfish reasons, and President Obama quite obviously supports similar reforms, bodes well for the chances to fix this long-standing and troublesome issue.

The details obviously will be hashed out in the House and Senate over the next few months, though we believe that the proposal President Obama presented yesterday, and the proposal a bipartisan group of Senators presented Monday, are already close enough that compromise should not be as difficult as many feared.

All of these are reasons for hope on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform, and are part of the reason our staff was laughing along with President Obama's speech on Tuesday.

The other major reason we were laughing, though - other than Paul's cartoon - is the simple irony of the situation.

The one name the modern Republican Party runs from like it was the plague is "George W. Bush." Yet, on that one issue - comprehensive immigration reform - President George W. Bush is the one name the Republican Party should have listened to on immigration years ago - and didn't.

Apparently, the current group of Republican "leaders" forgot their recent history.

Now, we all know who's going to have the last laugh on immigration reform after all.

...Like Another Hole In Your Head

There's a reason we were not at all surprised about the immigration reform efforts blooming this week in Washington, DC, though our lack of surprise is not directly related to immigration.

As we noted in the links of Monday's expanded edition, last weekend, in the biting cold, there was yet another rally in Washington, DC. This time, the rally was in favor of common sense gun safety laws, like those President Obama and several members of Congress are trying to get passed this year.

While this may shock our more liberal readers, not all Republicans are against common sense gun regulations. In repeated surveys, majorities of Republicans are in favor of those regulations like universal background checks and restrictions on high-capacity magazines, just like their Democratic and Independent counterparts.

One reason so many sane Republicans agree with these kinds of proposed rules is fairly obvious: On six of seven days last week, an American was shot by a gun at a gun show. The numbers don't lie - the more guns Americans have access to, the more injuries and accidental deaths are going to occur from those guns, often due to poor gun regulation laws.

In short, Americans need more crappy laws about guns like we need another hole in our collective head. That's why the common sense ideas that have already been offered on gun regulation - like universal background checks - are significantly more likely to pass this time, because even an idiot can see they're good ideas.

In a nutshell, that's also the reason our staff has very little concern - and maybe even a bit of hope - about many of the ideas offered in the various immigration reform plans being suddenly floated this week.

In case you missed it, a bipartisan group of Senators made a big show on Monday about presenting their blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. President Obama, some time ago, had scheduled his own presentation of a comprehensive immigration reform plan for this week, though the White House has already given clues that it may support the Senate's plan. There are even rumors of a bipartisan immigration plan in the House.

If it seems like a sudden and unexpected turn of events for the notoriously obstructionist Congressional Republicans, you shouldn't really be surprised. As Ezra Klein points out, even Republicans can see the truth about immigration and voting. In the 2012 Presidential election, President Obama received 71% of the Hispanic vote. In 2016, the projected share of the non-white vote is expected to rise two percent.

Unfortunately for Republicans, some conservatives continue to believe that Hispanics are natural conservatives - which, as conservative writers like David Frum have pointed out more than once, they are not.

Liberals and Progressives should not be immediately jumping for joy, however. As most of the immigration proposals currently stand, there is still far too much focus on border issues and immigrants, and far too little focus on employer-related issues like E-Verify and real enforcement - for example, a penalty system for employers that would heavily dissuade them from luring low-wage undocumented workers across the border. Without those solutions in place, Americans will simply be having this same discussion about immigration in another twenty years, just as we did twenty-five years ago.

Overall, the key features we're seeing among the multiple immigration reform plans and rumors - acknowledgement of a need for a fair path to citizenship, registration of applicants, fines and back taxes, and rewards for highly-skilled immigrants  - are mostly common sense measures that most sane partisans on both sides of the political aisle agree with.

Hopefully, our Congresspersons will - for once - have the good sense to approve the common sense reforms on both gun safety and immigration as soon as possible, without consulting hordes of well-paid highly partisan lobbyists, who would prefer a half-assed set of reform bills that solve little, and earn the lobbyists continued fat retainers.

This country needs another half-assed set of reform bills like... well, like a visit to another sloppy gun show.

Do Look Now

Barring another international emergency, tragedy, or mass civil unrest, much of the American national media chatter today will likely surround two kinds of stories.

One will likely be the sudden shift by Republicans to join Democrats in supporting comprehensive immigration reform. The other will surround two interviews with President Obama - one in The New Republic magazine, and the other, Obama's 60 Minutes interview alongside outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

While each of these news items deserve at least some attention, as we warned you in our first edition this year, the real political action to watch has moved to the state and local level.

That fact was evident last week, when media organizations including this one pointed out the Republican Party's underhanded attempts at rigging the vote in Virginia. After the initial Virginia vote-rigging story came to light, other attempts by the Republican Party to try to do the same in states like Florida and Michigan popped up too.

In Nebraska, Republicans appear to be trying to play a bait-and-switch game, at both the state and local levels, that's falling hard on students they claim to care about.

You may recall that earlier this month, Nebraska Republican Governor Dave Heineman pushed all six of Nebraska's University and State College campuses to implement a two-year tuition freeze. Nominally, the freeze was promoted by officials of both parties as a way to help lessen the burden on students.

That rhetoric shows itself to be completely hollow, however, in light of the Nebraska Board of Regents passing an increase for room and board for all students living in the residence halls at each of the six Nebraska state college campuses. While the percentages differ from school to school, the rate increases effectively add between four-hundred and a thousand dollars to the financial burden of those same students that Nebraska politicians claimed they cared about.

The hypocrisy doesn't stop at the state level, though.

Nebraska Republican state Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh also appears to be trying to forcibly downsize the Omaha Public School's board, from the state legislature, taking the board from twelve to nine members and in the process 'conveniently' wiping out the influence of Democratic members of the board.

If the game Republican partisans at all levels are playing hasn't yet become clear to you, we hope this bit of light helps.

Since they can't win at the ballot box with their outdated ideologies, extremist Republican political leaders at all levels are now trying to rig the system, even while they distract the national media by appearing to finally move toward bipartisanship on ideas like comprehensive immigration reform.

Even well-known conservative pundits who've thought about these ideas say Republican leaders who keep pushing ideas like vote-rigging will only end up hurting themselves in the end.

No matter how much cheating those GOP extremists do, it won't change the facts on the ground. The ideas President Obama focused on in his inaugural address aren't liberal - they're progressively centrist. They're ideas that both Republican and Democratic voters mostly agree on.

As soon as Americans notice that Republican "leaders" are attempting to rig systems against those centrist ideas - like they did when their intents were brought to light in Virginia and Florida - Republican "leaders" backpedal away from their cheating ideas so fast their heads are likely spinning round in circles.

There is, after all, a reason it says on Nebraska's state capitol building, "The salvation of the state is watchfulness in the citizen."

It would help everyone if more of our colleagues in the media also kept their eyes on where the action is really happening.

Friday Funday: Wishes

Unless you're living in the farthest Southern reaches of the United States, if you're like most Americans, you've probably been wishing for warmer temperatures this past week. It has been bitterly cold in some regions, especially after the relatively mild winter most of the United States has experienced.

The fact is, wishing the weather was warmer today won't make it so - though traveling to our South Florida offices might help our staff members living in Virginia and Nebraska. Of course, if we received all of our wishes, the world might be a very different place indeed.

Still, we shouldn't belittle the wishes we did see come true this week, starting with the second Inaugural address of President Obama. We also got to see Secretary of State Clinton put a few arrogant members of Congress in their place, and we got Thursday's announcement of full gender equity in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Our staff members didn't get all their hopes and wishes fulfilled this week. For example, we didn't win the lottery. We also didn't get filibuster reform.

True filibuster reform in the U.S. Senate, including the talking filibuster and the elimination of secret holds, was completely thrown overboard by Senator Harry Reid in what appears to have been a deal for a debt ceiling agreement with Minority Leader McConnell. Liberals and progressives are justifiably outraged with Reid, who effectively got nothing from Senate Republicans, except the same kind of handshake agreement that Republicans violated early in the last Congress.

We wish more of the American public had listened to those pundits who said Reid was likely to cave on this issue.

There was one more wish that began to take root this week, and promises to flower later this year.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a host of other Senators presented a new assault weapons ban proposal on Thursday, that addresses many of the problems both supporters and detractors had with the previous ban. The fact that Americans overwhelmingly support many of the pieces of this new gun safety legislation bodes well for key parts of it, especially the overwhelming support for universal background checks.

Overall, while we didn't get every one of our most treasured wishes granted, we did have a positive and healthy week.

Sometimes, that's all anyone can wish for.

Heroes And Cowards

At The Daily Felltoon, our standing rule on both credit and blame is simple, and hasn't changed since we began five years ago: We'll give credit when it's due, and allot blame when it's been earned.

Lately, many of our colleagues in the media - specifically, the sports media - have been focused on fallen heroes. From Lance Armstrong to Manti Te'o to pretty much all of Major League Baseball - including every media organization and baseball fan [For the record, that's our entire staff too] - the list of so-called heroes that have become an embarrassment has placed a pall over much of the media, with many rhetorically wondering where all the heroes have gone.

The heroes never left. They're just not wearing sports uniforms - and they're surrounded by cowards, unfortunately.

One of our personal heroes this week was in full display yesterday, in both houses of Congress, taking no grief, arrogance, stupidity, or harassment from anyone. That hero is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who not only smacked down preening Republicans looking to grandstand in front of the TV cameras. She even smacked down those right-wing media propagandists who weren't even at the hearings, who've been lying about the attacks in Bengahzi since they happened last September.

We also have to note the heroism today of our American women who serve in combat roles around the world, many of whom have been doing so without official recognition for years. Today, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will remedy that, as he makes official a change in Pentagon policy that will officially open up combat roles to women.

It's not that women haven't already been serving in combat roles in warzones over most of the last twenty years. It's that American women haven't been able to capitalize on their bravery and sometimes heroic service, by climbing some of the military's highest ranks, or by being recognized for their service in certain roles in all branches of the U.S. Armed Services.

After today, those heroes will finally be equal in every legal way, to every other U.S. service member.

The heroism of both Sect. Clinton and our female service members stand out in stark contrast to the cowardice of Republicans in the U.S. House. After months of threatening to effectively tell the creditors of the United States to go to hell unless Congressional Democrats gave in to the demands of Republicans, House Republicans were the ones to run away from their responsibilities on the Federal budget, by caving and pushing off the deadline on the debt ceiling until mid-May.

Not surprisingly, the Republican cowards in the House claimed their caving in was a win. Too bad they weren't courageous enough to stand in front of the media to take questions about their surrender.

Maybe the Republicans in the House were attempting to act like other so-called heroes, hiding from the cameras until they could get their own moments with Oprah or Katie Couric - though we don't think that kind of confessional would have helped the Republicans any more than it did other so-called heroes.

Over The Cliff

It should come as no surprise to anyone to hear that the latest barely legal, totally unethical con-job from the Republican Party happened on Monday, during the Presidential inauguration festivities in Washington, DC. That the traitorous actions didn't happen at the Federal level also should be no surprise, as we warned you at the beginning of this year, that much of the swindling and chicanery of the modern GOP would happen at the state level this year.

What may surprise some people is that the extremists in the Republican Party are driving the rest of the party off a political cliff - and the rest of the non-nuts in the GOP don't want to go on these political suicide missions.

In case you missed it, the Virginia state Senate, a body divided evenly between Democratic and Republican lawmakers, had one member missing on Monday, state Senator Henry Marsh. Sen. Marsh, a longtime civil rights activist had gone to see the inauguration in Washington, DC in possibly one of his last opportunities to ever do so.

While he was out, the Republicans in the Virginia state Senate rammed through a plan to redistrict the entire commonwealth of Virginia. Their gerrymandered map would effectively make it impossible for Democrats to ever gain control of the state Senate again.

While the far-right Republicans were busy raping the spirit of democracy in the Virginia Senate, they also put forward a plan to permanently change how presidential electoral votes would also be allocated in Virginia. Just like their state redistricting hoax, this second GOP proposed bill would effectively render the voices of the overwhelming number of Virginia voters - who live in the urban and suburban areas of Virginia's cities - permanently silent. Sadly, this is a trick the GOP is trying all over the nation.

There's a phrase for these kinds of actions. It's called cheating, and in politics, it's the last tool of both gutless cowards and shortsighted fools - especially in Virginia.

In Virginia, 2013 is an election year, for both the Virginia House and Governorship. The GOP's leading candidate for this fall happens to be their controversial Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a man well-known for problematic comments and ideas, including Virginia's invasive and unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound bill. Further complicating political matters, Virginia Republicans currently hold 67 House seats, and they'll need every bit of legitimate political muscle not to lose significant numbers of those seats this fall.

Extreme actions like this are also likely to sink any serious efforts by the current term-limited governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, to get any serious legislation passed this year - a fact McDonnell seemed painfully aware of last week, and a fact that he desperately wants to go away now.

Even with this year's elections hanging precariously in the balance, the far-right nuts in the Virginia state Republican Party quite obviously couldn't care less about trust, ethics, or good governance, as evidenced by their reckless and selfish actions.

If you think this kind of nutbaggery is limited to Virginia, think again. Virginia is just one example of this kind of insanity - and only sane Republicans can stop their extremist members from driving the rest of the party right off the political cliff.

Setting A New Course

While many of our media colleagues are groggy this morning, heads still abuzz with the drinks and festivities of Monday's inaugural events, we write today's commentary with clear eyes and hearts, knowing that we have seen the end of one era in American politics, and the beginning of another.

If you missed it Monday, you should watch the second inaugural address of President Obama before reading the rest of today's commentary. If you pay attention to the words of the President, you will see very clearly a change in the way progress will now be addressed in America.

For most of the last twenty years, our nation has been at war - not just in the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan or with al-Qaeda, but ideologically, with one another, in ways our nation hasn't faced since the Civil War. On issues ranging from climate change and immigration, to LGBT equality and economic inequality, there have been two competing sets of ideas, fought under the dominant ideological labels from the last century, liberal and conservative.

The so-called conservative ideas have increasingly been wielded by media and political bullies over the last twenty years. Their bullying has become a form of political terrorism against anyone who disagrees with their ideology that has involved everything from holding our nation's full faith and credit hostage, to monopolistic media practices, to cheating our electoral system through severe gerrymandering.

During that same twenty year span where conservatives have become abusive jerks, those people who have supported liberal and progressive ideas have often been expected to be gentle, easygoing, and conflict averse, trying to win in more intellectual and indirect ways so as not to have to fight more direct battles.

As President Obama's unapologetic address reminded us on Monday, "We [Americans] have always understood that when times change, so must we." Times have indeed changed, and the days of soft progressivism are over.

In a speech that was more progressive than any he's ever made in his current role, President Obama drew from the founding documents of our nation to call for immediate action on climate change, to insist on investing in our nation collectively through government, and to attack our own severe economic inequalities.

The President also made it clear that our commitment to programs like Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security will not waver. Further, he also clearly stated the fact that equality for ALL Americans - men and women, gay and straight, Americans of all ethnic backgrounds - does not make us weaker, but actually has strengthened our nation.

His language directly reflected the kind of strong, centrist, sensible progressivism we have advocated here for years - the kind of real world proven certainty that terrifies bullies.

It's no surprise, then, that the NRA - a textbook example of the kind of bully politics of the right for the last twenty years - has been effectively emasculated by President Obama over the last month. This is evidenced by states around the country following the President's lead in quickly enacting sound gun safety laws. As surely as if a whip-smart woman defanged a misogynistic man with the kind of one-liner a bully doesn't recover from, the 2012 elections showed the NRA to be the nearly impotent lobbying force their lack of electoral wins showed them to be.

In short, America's course has changed from what it's been the last twenty years. Monday, that change was made clear to the world.

Our Next Four Years

While the pomp and circumstance of the 57th inauguration of a U.S. President will surround President Obama and his family in Washington, DC today, the President officially took the oath of office yesterday, on January 20th, as prescribed in the Constitution.

Today is also officially Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

When the great civil rights leader gave his most famous address fifty years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, few if any could have imagined that fifty years later, America would be celebrating the overwhelmingly re-election of it's first multi-racial president.

President Obama's first term has been anything but dull, and his second appears headed for even more incredible hurdles. Still, his first term has seen a huge number of promises kept and successes achieved, including the end to the Iraq War, and the beginning of the end of the Afghanistan Conflict. President Obama put the brakes on the Great Recession, and has begun to grow our economy again, and shrink our unemployment problem, while actually reducing our nation's debt. All this and he pushed through a long-overdue overhaul of the health insurance system - and all of it while dealing with an extremist Republican opposition, who put their own political dogma ahead of the best interests of themselves and their constituents.

So what might the next four years look like?

To start with, President Obama has already begun the push for smarter, more effective gun safety laws. With a weekend that included "National Gun Appreciation Day" where five people were accidentally shot at gun shows in North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, and an Albuquerque shooting where a teenager killed five people, including three kids, we'd say President Obama is already starting in the right place.

This President also has the goal of reversing our nation's horrible trend of severe economic inequality over the last thirty years as one of his major second term goals. He's also publicly noted the issues of immigration reform, and climate change as key second term goals. None of these will be easy, especially with an opposition Republican Party that's been heavily burned by its extremist tea party wing. Even after major defeats in the 2012 election, the GOP still can't quite let go of their extremists at either the national or state levels - and their conservative strategists have become desperate for any kind of win.

In fact, as we noted earlier this year, the action at the state level will be fierce this year, with Governors like Nebraska's Dave Heineman trying to peddle his idea of eliminating state income tax. That plan, at first glance, seems to relieve Nebraskans of paying income tax up front, even while it robs Nebraska businesses and individuals of millions of dollars in sales tax breaks.

With incredibly difficult challenges from local, state, and national politicans in both parties, let alone leaders from other nations, most other men and women might look at President Obama's to-do list for the next four years and think, "I'm glad I'm not responsible for all that mess."

We have news for you, if that's your thought.

You ARE responsible for all that mess, even if history won't put your name next to the successes or failures of the next four years. We all are. If President Obama and America succeed, we will all succeed, whether you voted for him or not. If he fails, you fail too.

So we suggest you all pull your big boy and big girl britches up, work together to solve our problems, and stuff your attitude problems where the sun doesn't shine.

It's not just President Obama's next term that begins today.
Our next four years begin today for all of us.
Let's make 'em great.

Friday Funday: Standing Up For Service

For our office in Washington, DC, today begins Inauguration Weekend, a time when the city fills with visitors, and most people are in a generally positive mood. It's also a holiday weekend for millions of other Americans around the country, as Martin Luther King Jr Day is celebrated Monday, and many schools, banks, and government offices will be closed.

There's a habit the Obama family brought with them to the White House four years ago, and it's a habit we're positive Dr. King would approve of, the National Day of Service, which is tomorrow, January 19th.

Across the nation, from average citizens to mayors, from members of the Cabinet to President Obama and his family, millions of Americans will be volunteering in their communities tomorrow, helping to serve the needs of those that might not otherwise get help. If you'd like to join them, and you're unsure of who could use some help in your community, you can plug in your location and how you'd like to help at serve.gov, and a long list of worthy organizations will pop up, where you might volunteer and serve your community well.

Serving the needs of Americans well - even those who disagree with him - is what our staff members feel President Obama has been doing successfully during his entire first term.

It has taken a very obvious toll on him, physically, as a time-lapsed photo at the Washington Post's website displays clearly.

As doctors have confirmed multiple times over the years, the stress of the office of President weighs heavily on anyone who occupies it. Presidents are thought to age two years physiologically for every one year in office. Exercise and eating right do help to keep them young, as those habits do for all of us. But that's simply taking care of the outside.

Taking care of your inside - your spirit - requires doing something not for yourself, but for others.

Whether you call it 'Paying it forward' or social justice, volunteering has actually been scientifically proven to be good for you, combatting depression, increasing self-confidence, and even increasing your likelihood to make connections that can lead your to your next paying job.

It's not something for just one sub-section of America.

As Dr. King once said, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace."

In short, volunteering makes you a happier person to be around, which makes you better, and makes the community you volunteer in - your city, your state, and your nation - better too.

Of course, once you're done volunteering, if you happen to want to party, or see a great show this weekend, we say 'Why not?'

It is Inauguration Weekend, after all.
Be safe. Have fun.

Drowning In Stupidi-Tea

As some of our readers have mentioned over the last few years, we tend to point out the flaws in the Republican Party in specific, and the conservative movement in general, on a regular basis. Meanwhile, we haven't generally focused on the faults of the Democratic Party lately.

It's not because those on the political left or in the Democratic Party don't have faults. Ask any politically astute Democrat, and they'll be more than happy to give you a list of what they see is currently wrong on their side of the proverbial aisle. That said, the American political left and the Democratic Party aren't drowning in a sea of extremism, as the Republican Party is and has been for some time now.

The reactions to President Obama and Vice-President Biden's moves on gun violence reduction yesterday are a perfect example of this failure in the GOP.

President Obama's list of 'Gun Violence Reduction Executive Actions' released on Wednesday are sensible and broad, and not at all severe. They include items like "Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers" and "Nominate an ATF director." In fact, Obama's executive actions on gun control aren't even as strong as the actions of previous Presidents on the same subject. Both George Bush Sr. and Ronald Reagan either supported or enacted more stringent gun control initiatives. Further, Obama's actions generally add to or augment gun safety policies that gun owners have already said they'd like to see.

Yet, for these simple and sensible actions, agreed to by a majority of gun owners, President Obama is now being mocked and implied that he's a traitor in right-wing media, and even threatened with impeachment by tea party Republican Congresspersons.

This is why the Republican Party is drowning in a political tea cup.

Even vaunted young conservative Republican media figures like Jonah Goldberg have finally begun to voice their concerns. No matter how "pure" any group's ideology is, if the group can't grow and convince a wider audience that their ideas have value and merit, that group will shrink and eventually die.

It's not just Goldberg who understands this.

Justin Green - a fellow Nebraskan and current assistant to sensible moderate Republican David Frum - also pointed out on Wednesday what we've thought was obvious, namely that "the GOP should be working to limit its losses over the next two years and prepare to recover in the midterms. Instead, we're seeing the hucksters of the movement claim the answer is to get madder, get louder, and to really ramp up the fight. In what way do they think this moves us closer to the our desired ends?"

Ideology without effecting any real progress is dead in the water - or tea, as is the case currently, with the GOP.

Progressive conservatism − being conservative, but still actually making progress by accomplishing legislation - is doable. It was done in Congress for years, on all kinds of small and large measures. Progressive liberals - more commonly thought of as progressives today - worked together in real bipartisanship with progressive conservatives to get the original PAYGO structure set up. That was one of the two key pillars that balanced the federal budget during the Clinton years.

The key now, that only one side seems to understand, is simple: Effective governing is the art of the possible.

If one of our two major political parties is going to let its most extreme elements determine the entire direction of every action in that party, then that political party will only be going one direction.

Down. Or, to be more specific, underwater.
Or in this case, tea.

The Problem

We have a problem in American politics today, one that many people still refuse to acknowledge.

Yesterday, the Republican-led House finally, grudgingly passed a $50.5 billion relief bill for victims of Superstorm Sandy, the storm that devastated the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas at the end of last fall. Tuesday's $50 billion aid package, added to the $9.7 billion federal flood aid package that was passed on Jan. 4, roughly matches the Senate's $60 billion package which they passed nearly three weeks ago, on Dec. 28.

While it's great that the relief measure finally passed the House, it is an embarrassment that it took our Congress this long to agree to a bill to help millions of Americans recover from a natural disaster. Instead of putting bipartisanship aside and helping their fellow Americans in an emergency, Congress - specifically House Republicans - effectively abandoned their fellow Americans during the holiday season. That kind of crazy behavior is simply inexcusable.

It has taken Congress twelve weeks to get this far, and the relief bill still isn't technically passed, in large part because we have a major problem in American politics.

As a comparison for how fast legislation can move when there isn't the same problem, the New York state Legislature passed sweeping new laws on gun safety - one of the most divisive issues in America - on day two of their 2013 session, yesterday, with solid bipartisan support.

Have you figured out what the problem is yet?

Today, we are 100% certain that problem will raise its ugly head again, when President Obama and Vice President Biden release their plans for new gun safety measures. We have no doubt, while many Republicans will be wailing about how gun control laws are evil and Democrats refuse to work with them out of one side their mouths, those same Republicans may as well be ringed with spikes as they spit fire about anyone who disagrees with them from the other side of their mouths.

For the record, President George W. Bush signed his own meager gun control five years ago this month, yet Republicans and the NRA didn't claim the world was coming to an end back then.

Still trying to figure out the problem?

We never remember seeing protestors prior to the second inauguration of Reagan, Clinton, or Bush, and we don't remember freshman House members ever threatening any President with impeachment if the President pushed forward on controversial legislation.

The problem, if you haven't figured it out by now, is the spiky, bipolar nature of the GOP right now.

Republicans like Rep. Michele Bachmann can't even find co-sponsors for their legislation right now due to their extremism. Meanwhile, more centrist-leaning Republicans like Alaska's Lisa Murkowski seem to be forced to quietly, desperately run away from insane tea party ideas like holding the nation's economy hostage over the debt ceiling.

The Republican Party can't claim that they want bipartisanship, and then insist bipartisanship means doing everything their way. That is the childish attitude of a group of individuals who have yet to understand that the political reality has changed.

The tea party is over. Time to hang up your costume and act like an adult. Quit your whining - seriously, shut up. Grow up. Compromise. Move on. As both Democrats and Republicans in New York state's legislature showed on gun control, a lot can be done in a very short time, if one simply stops being the problem, and instead focuses on being part of the solution.

America has work to do. Either get busy helpin' or get the hell out of the way.

Judgement Calls

Congress finally gets back to work today, and once again, it's anyone's guess whether they'll actually get anything accomplished by the end of the day.

Filibuster reform might happen in the 113th Congress, which would help to break the ugly pattern of Republican obstructionism in Congress. Then again, Harry Reid has already given hints he may wimp out, a judgement call that would be highly questionable, if not altogether expected from Reid.

Speaking of poor judgement calls, the extremist tea party Republicans, and whiny liberal Democrats will also be back today in the House, likely complaining about President Obama's choices for his second term cabinet. For anyone still questioning the qualifications of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to be President Obama's Defense Secretary, we're more than happy to point out two men, considered war criminals by some, who had far worse judgement than Hagel ever has shown: Former Defense Secretaries Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

Yes, the theme of Washington, DC this week, for most people, seems to be bad judgement calls - which is odd, as we always thought the bad judgement calls were supposed to come next week, after a late night of drinking and dancing at any one of a plethora of inaugural balls.

One of the uglier judgment calls this week was already made by many in the media on Monday, when President Obama gave a surprise press conference, his last 'presser' of his first term.

The President made clear at his event on Monday, more than once, that there will be absolutely no negotiation on the debt ceiling. And why should there be? As the President himself noted, "The debt ceiling is not a question of authorizing more spending. Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize more spending. It simply allows the country to pay for spending that Congress has already committed to… Republicans in Congress have two choices here: They can act responsibly and pay America's bills or they can act irresponsibly and put America through another economic crisis. But they will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy."

That didn't stop multiple members of the media from whining different versions of the same question to President Obama, "But what if the Republicans don't act responsibly?" That also didn't stop more than one question on the White House's efforts on new gun safety laws - which every member of the Press Corps knows will be the subject the White House is tackling today. It was obvious President Obama wasn't going to put up with either their whining or obtuseness.

Next time, maybe our fellow media colleagues should use slightly better judgement, and read the schedule the White House puts out for the week. Then those same media members might want to read some current events - for example, the recent polling that says Americans overwhelmingly favor common-sense gun control.

When it comes to poor judgement, it appears many in Washington, DC - and elsewhere - have proven so far this week, they're not making the best choices.

Maybe it's better they got their mistakes out of the way early this week, instead of next Monday, when some idiots will inevitably forget to wear their coats during the inauguration.

That's a failed judgement call you can be certain we won't be making.

Biting Truth

Change can be hard to get used to, at times.

Even as members of Congress swing back to Washington this week for the start of normal business, the political imbalance that existed for the last two years has begun to shift back towards the political center, a change that's already forecast to cause a different kind of congressional dysfunction.

Many state legislative bodies around the nation are going through similar rebalancing, including the Nebraska Unicameral, where some of Nebraska's Republican tea party politicos are already whining like whipped dogs, after last week's committee assignments.

To put it bluntly, the nominally non-partisan Nebraska Legislature doesn't look like it'll be playing the legislative lap-dog to Republican Governor Dave Heineman this session, as it has too often in the recent past. And we're pretty pleased about what kind of good governance that could lead to.

In case you missed it, the 2013 Nebraska Legislature already started its 2013 session last week, with a heavy list of proposed bills including state-level Medicare changes, voter registration, gun safety, criminal sentencing and social media laws.

The Legislature also chose its committee chairs, a task of serious importance that rarely receives the kind of media attention it should.

This year, it appears Nebraska's nominally non-partisan legislature really lived up to it's non-partisan designation, naming eight Democratic chairpersons, seven Republicans, and one independent to head the sixteen major committees. This is even more surprising when you consider that Republicans hold 30 of 49 seats in the Legislature.

It's the kind of balance that would make most sensible Nebraskans proud. For Nebraska's tea party pandering Republican Party "leaders" however, it's the kind of balance that has them lashing out like immature teenagers on their Facebook pages.

It's a good bet most of those politicians good enough to actually be elected to Nebraska's legislature know better than to act so childishly. After all, Sen. Ernie Chambers is back in the legislature, and he's known for having little patience with those of both parties who attempt to promote stupidity through tantrums on the floor of the Unicameral.

Gov. Heineman is not nearly so politically intemperate as Nebraska's other Republican Party leaders. Heineman has already made a very wise move toward Democratic Sen. Heath Mello - the new chairman of the influential Appropriations Committee. The governor has promised he will bargain with Mello in good faith, coming forward with the kind of deference to compromise and good sense that past moderate, sensible, Nebraska Republican political leaders have been known for.

Those unhappy with Gov. Heineman's shift towards the sensible, who think a new tea party leaning Republican is waiting in the wings to replace Heineman, received even more bad news this weekend. Both Attorney General Jon Bruning and University of Nebraska Regent Tim Clare announced they won't be running to replace Heineman in 2014.

In summary, this Legislature doesn't look to be a lap dog this session - for either side of the political aisle.

Let's hope they show everyone, across the nation, how real bipartisanship can work.

Friday Funday: Ready For Anything

While last weekend may have been technically the first weekend of the new year, this weekend celebrates the end of the first full work week of 2013 - as good a time as any to find reasons to celebrate and relax.

We're aware that not all of our readers are feeling well today, as this year's strain of flu seems to be an even more mean and ugly variety than usual. Medical professionals across the nation and at the CDC are heavily recommending the flu vaccine this year, especially with the flu bug waiting around the corner for millions.

If you're feeling up to it, though, we hope you're able to enjoy a few events this weekend.

Once again, one of our staff members is throwing her fantastic annual "Twelfth Night" party this weekend. Yes, we realize the official "Twelfth Night" was last Saturday, but this weekend worked out better for all involved. Regardless of the calendar, the party looks to be a great opportunity to spend time with friends and co-workers.

Another reason to celebrate is that it's our fifth anniversary here at the Daily Felltoon. Feel free to flip through any of our archived issues, or Paul's archived cartoons, whether you're on your smartphone, your computer, or stuck at home in bed with your tablet device.

Even if you're feeling under the weather, you can do a little celebrating this weekend, reading up on your favorite 2013 Oscar nominees, or checking out the newest gadgets from the 2013 Consumer Electronic Show. The bendable glass and flexible display technologies our tech guru forecasted a decade ago for about now finally look to be ready for use.

Imagine; a phone you can stick in your pocket and sit on, without breaking the screen. Or a digitial newspaper you could fold up and stick in your pocket, just like your regular newspaper now.

Yes - we're well aware of the continued and long-overdue debate on gun violence continuing around the country, even as more shootings continue. We're also aware that President Obama has continued to work in Washington, while Congress has yet to return from their holiday vacation. Maybe that's a good thing though, as President Obama is still busily filling his open Cabinet positions, while Vice President Biden is rapidly completing his work with the gun violence task force.

We will continue to monitor all of these news items and others, at least during the day today. After all, we may be getting ready for the weekend, but we're still responsible members of the media.

With a relatively clean new calendar, an optimistic attitude, and the new year mostly in front of us, we're feeling like we're ready for almost anything.

We also hope you're also ready for anything - good or bad - and that your weekend is as enjoyable as possible, whatever your health condition.

Why America Really Hates Congress

As we pointed out briefly in Wednesday's edition, in the latest Congressional approval survey from reliable pollster PPP, Americans made it clear they really don't approve of Congress when they responded by giving our Congresscritters a 9% approval rating.

It's not just that Americans prefer used car salesman, root canals and colonoscopies to those elected officials we send to Washington, DC. Head lice, brussel sprouts, cockroaches, and even the totally incompetent NFL replacement refs from last fall also outrank our members of Congress.

The basic reason for our collective American distain of Congress has been made obvious in poll, after poll, after poll over the last few years. In a nutshell, most Americans from all walks of life do not understand why our members of Congress can't compromise, even on the easiest issues, let alone the difficult ones like immigration, gun violence, climate change, and our national tax and budget priorities.

That list of difficult topics may look familiar, as we noted on Wednesday a similar list that includes nearly all of President Obama's second term priorities.

The reason for our collective national anger goes deeper though than just being fed up with Congress' inability to find compromise. In a hopeful note, we've begun to see many other Americans finally seeing what we've seen for years, even as our nation finally begins to truly have a serious, deep, comprehensive debate about our national gun violence problem.

TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro noticed it too on Tuesday night, in a town hall meeting on gun violence hosted by Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, in his native Northern California district. Thompson's town hall practically overflowed, as people on all sides of the gun violence discussion passionately voiced their opinions. Yet even with all the passion and tension, it appears that people on all sides are - mostly - listening to one another.

Washington Monthly's Ed Kilgore also noticed the town hall phenomenon, and seems to have noticed the same thing we have: When the pieces of a complex issue are unknown or poorly understood - as President Obama's health care bill was back in 2009 - it's easy for those engaged in propaganda to demagogue the issue.

None of the complex issues Americans have to face in the next few years are unknown though. We've been loudly, passionately, and deeply discussing immigration, gun violence, climate change, and our national tax and budget priorities with each other over the last twelve to fifteen years. While we discussed and hashed out these issues in private small groups, both in person and online, our legislators have most often been avoiding debating and finding compromise - and avoiding their public duty to discuss them as we have.

In brief, that's why Americans are angry with Congress; we, the people, have had to do the second hardest part of our Congressperson's jobs for them, for years, while they've cowered behind their desperate chase for the money to get re-elected .

Thankfully, though, there are some signs those debates have matured Americans, to some degree.

As the town hall in the rural Napa Valley showed, unlike the angry shouting matches in 2009, Americans now seem to be able to hold intense discussions, on complex topics, without them turning into free-for-all screamfests.

Maybe that general comity is because Americans have begun to find almost all of our fellow citizens have at least one thing in common.

We all feel the same way about Congress.

Advice For A Second Term

While football may still be on the minds of many Americans - except for Notre Dame fans who'd probably rather forget the championship game this year - we thought it oddly appropriate this week when Secretary Hillary Clinton came back to work, and her staff gave her a protective football helmet, as a joke.

While we're glad to see Secretary Clinton back at work, the gift her staff gave her might actually better serve her current boss, President Obama, over the next two years.

It's not just the fact that the Republican Party continues to throw at President Obama whatever political bricks they can get their hands on. As evidenced by the display Monday night by extremist right-wing talk radio host Alex Jones on the CNN show of Piers Morgan, it's obvious that many on the extreme political right in America have long ago lost touch with reality.

Right-wing media hacks and propagandists aren't the only ones spewing crazy-sounding ideas right now. Piles of media pundits on both the left and right are bouncing around the notion of solving the nation's long-term debt by minting a trillion-dollar coin. Even the Nobel prize-winning Paul Krugman has considered the idea in a serious and legitimate fashion.

President Obama's second-term list of priorities isn't going to make his next four years any easier.

His list of priorities includes ending the war in Afghanistan, a comprehensive overhaul of America's immigration system, serious and effective gun safety and climate change legislation, and continuing to get America's tax and budget houses in order. The President's priorities would be a heavy lift, even in the best political atmosphere.

Still, we believe progress on many if not all of of those priorities might be achievable if President Obama had both a House and a Senate who put the best interests of the American people first - a true legislative partner at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Instead, according to the latest poll by Public Policy Polling, Americans now overwhelmingly prefer head lice, root canals, colonoscopies, and even traffic jams to Congress. At least a quarter of Americans even prefer gonorrhea and ebola to our elected officials of both parties, in both houses of Congress.

Even though President Obama has to carry all of that into his second term, even before that term has officially begun, he's already made some headway on at least two of those priorities. Discussions with Afghan Prime Minister Karzai already appear to be pointing to a withdrawal of American combat troops from Afghanistan before 2014. On the budget front, President Obama has already shepherded through approximately $2.4 Trillion in deficit reduction, with three quarters of it coming from spending cuts.

Still, the President's second term looks to be a bumpy ride for him - and for much of America too.

We've only got one piece of advice, for all those who thought things would be easier after last fall's election:

Get a helmet.

Tar, Feathers, And Truth

Even though our staff may be spread across the country, we still take pride in the fact that we're all Nebraskans. In general, Nebraskans have a reputation for level-headed thinking and clear, direct speaking on issues that may make others uncomfortable.

It's the kind of reputation for honesty that - in the past - has made centrist politicians like Chuck Hagel a key figure in Washington, DC. On more than one occasion over the years, Hagel proved he wasn't afraid to speak the truth to those in power in his party, or in the media, as Hagel did again Monday in an exclusive interview with our acquaintance Don Walton at the Lincoln Journal-Star.

It's not a surprise to us that President Obama nominated former Sen. Hagel on Monday to be the next Secretary of Defense. We told you almost a week ago not to think of Hagel as all washed up for the nomination, a recommendation some in both media and politics failed to heed.

We weren't surprised at all to see some in the GOP lining up last weekend to get their metaphorical tar and feathers before Monday's nomination. When you're someone who lives in glass houses like much of the GOP leadership does these days, a straight shooter like Hagel is exactly the type of person who terrifies you.

While there are those in Israeli-allied organizations like AIPAC who initially tossed up a smokescreen surrounding Hagel's reputation, AIPAC itself has since backed off on Hagel. The truth of the matter is that Chuck Hagel really doesn't have a 'Jewish problem' so much as he has a warmonger problem.

Hagel's experience with war, as an infantryman in Vietnam, has very much colored his view of war in the forty-plus years since his time as an enlisted man. His positions on the Iraq War - first to support it, and then later to call out its recklessness and unnecessary, bloated spending - made him a pariah in the face of his own war-happy party.

That Nebraska sensibility - especially when it's been applied with wise experience to issues like war and foreign policy - is exactly why President Obama made Hagel a member of the President's Defense Policy Board, and co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board several years ago.

It's also the real reason why so many Republicans, and even a few Democrats, are lining up to try and smear Hagel's reputation.

Make no bones about it - the military/industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about over fifty years ago has indeed come into power, and it's sucking the budget of the U.S. dry. This is something that the former Senator and infantryman sees as wasteful, harmful, and inefficient - and is something that as Secretary of Defense, he will be able to affect greatly.

There are those on the left who are still making noise about anti-gay comments Hagel made towards then-Ambassador James Hormel back in 1997. Hagel has not only apologized, but Hormel and other LGBT leaders have also accepted the apology. Even former LGBT leader Rep. Barney Frank has now recommended Hagel's nomination for Defense Secretary. If the left really wants to have an Obama nominee to scream about, they should be looking at John Brennan, point man for President Obama's controversial drone program.

As far as Hagel's nomination, we have little worry that the former Nebraska Senator won't become the next Secretary of Defense, an opinion even non-Nebraskans are already agreeing with.

Like we said last week, the only people who will end up all wet are those who think they can tar Chuck Hagel as unqualified for Secretary of Defense.

What The People Want

As most of the nation finally takes the holiday decorations down and the college football bowl games wind to a close, America appears to be finally pulling out of our collective holiday coma, and getting back to a very full slate of work for 2013.

President Obama has already made it clear he's planned a broad and assertive agenda for his second term - even while Republicans in Congress, especially in the House, are in open political warfare with one another. Even with another potential do-nothing Congress, 2013 looks to be a year filled with legislators and politicians tackling some issues that have been seriously divisive in the not-too-distant past, including immigration and same-sex marriage.

As we noted in our first edition of 2013, much of the political action will be happening at the state level this year, and in both Illinois and Rhode Island, same-sex marriage could be made legal even before the Supreme Court takes up two cases related to the issue later this year.

Not surprisingly, there are still plenty of Americans who insist that letting same-sex couples marry signals the death of the institution of marriage. The facts, though, simply don't support that premise.

In a study from June 2012, it was confirmed the baby boomer divorce rate has now doubled in the last twenty years, even as more and more Americans show less and less of a problem with same-sex marriage. And same-sex couples DO want to get married.

In the first year of same-sex marriage being legal in New York state, the economy of just New York City was boosted by $258 million dollars. That figure only includes half of 2011 and 2012, and doesn't include the entire state, with great honeymoon destinations like Niagara Falls, or the numerous 'B&B's" - bed and breakfast - resorts or wineries that litter upstate New York.

It's not a wonder then that Illinois may very likely legalize same-sex marriage as early as this week. Rhode Island - the only state in the New England region that hasn't legalized same-sex marriage - could do so even before Valentine's Day.

Back in December, on ABC's weekend talking heads show 'This Week' commentator George Will said what so many who've looked at the polls have also noted, that ‘…quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying.’ Polls conducted by ABC, the Washington Post, and Pew Center confirm - what opposition there is to same-sex marriage is overwhelmingly older, and on the right-wing extreme end of the binary political scale.

Frankly, we really don't have any problems with same-sex marriage, especially if it's likely to help boost the economy. Our staff members even have same-sex friends who've gotten married over the last few years.

As far as we're concerned, if someone pays taxes, doesn't break the law, is a good neighbor, and cares for their family and friends, we really don't care if they're single or married, no matter what their sexual orientation might be.

In a democracy, if it's what the people want, that's usually what the people get. How other people love isn't for us to decide.

Friday Funday: Kicking A Bad Habit

Since some of our newest subscribers may not be aware of our usual drill, allow us to quickly explain. Every Friday here at The Daily Felltoon, we usually attempt to veer off a bit from politics and focus on something positive. However, we're also aware we haven't completely closed out the 'fiscal cliff' story, since the deal between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress was reached earlier this week, when we were still on holiday break.

Thus, we'll make our fiscal cliff summary short today, since we've also been giving you such great links to thorough coverage of the fiscal cliff story in our daily e-mail editions and daily archive.

The long and short on the cliff story is simple. The 112th Congress did the only thing they seemed to be good at, kicking the proverbial can down the road. America did go "over the cliff" for a couple of days, raising taxes back to Clinton-era rates, though President Obama's tax cut plan technically brought income tax rates back down for most Americans.

The way the deal was handled most certainly means the grizzly bear of the debt ceiling is waiting in the wings for Congress and the President to deal with over the next two months, spurred on by the extremists in the Republican Party.

Thankfully, the ridiculous drama of the fiscal cliff is over, for now.

On a positive note, the new Congress - the 113th - was sworn in on Thursday, and included some new members we're very happy to see on board, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Kyrsten Sinema, and an acquaintance of ours, through our South Florida bureau, Rep. Alan Grayson.

There are a great deal of topics that need to be handled at the federal level over the next two years, as President Obama recently stated, everything from ending the war in Afghanistan to comprehensive immigration reform, to gun safety laws, to education, election reform, and climate change.

It's not a small list - but it's also one we see no real reason that can't be accomplished.

Yes, we're aware that the extremist Republicans still control 51 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and between 15 and 25 seats in the U.S. Senate. There are 435 members of the House and 100 Senators, however - more than enough to override any small group of extremists, from either end of the binary political spectrum, especially if they work together across party lines.

We sincerely hope that this 113th Congress looks at why so much of America is disgusted with them, as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie clearly pointed out this week. On a specific note, Christie rightly took Speaker Boehner and the extremist Republicans to task for wasting nine weeks (and counting) to pass a relief bill for areas affected by Superstorm Sandy.

On a larger note, the reason Americans are angry with our so-called representatives is because the 112th Congress kicked the can down the road - or off the cliff - on almost every topic imaginable, especially the tough ones.

Instead of branding this new Congress with the sins of the last one though, we're trying to kick something ourselves - the habit of holding a grudge against the last assembly.

Today marks the first full day of the 113th Congress. Let's wish them all well, and hope they can do what we've sent them to Washington, DC to do. Namely, solve issues too big for our cities and states, and find compromise solutions that will help make America better.