Compromising and negotiating is how mature adults handle problems.  They work together to solve their problems.

It’s so sad that our society has so many people who cannot understand this, especially when it comes to politics.

I’m not talking about compromising your ethics. But politics? Law? My marriage? Life in general? 

I’ve learned, as I’ve aged and become wiser, that I’d rather work with the other side and get 50% of what I want than be stubborn and get 0%.

There are gray areas in the world. Not everything is black and white. Compromise is needed to get things done.

A lot of the arguments I get into with people over politics seem to do with this refusal to compromise; with people who see things only in black and white. (And this includes many on the left as well.)

In some ways, it is like those who strongly believe their religion to the point where there can be no compromise because that means you’re helping evil prevail. Abortion is the best example I can think of there. I am more than willing to compromise on this issue — I agree that there should be restrictions based on medical science. I am willing to change my position as medical science changes.  However, those who think that a collection of cells is a life from the moment of conception will accept no compromise. They will not budge, so how can we work together to solve this problem?

The gun extremists also think that it is impossible to have any compromise because it’s a violation of their civil liberties as guaranteed by the Constitution. They feel that any attempt to prevent felons, terrorists or the insane from having guns is as much of a violation of their rights as throwing someone in jail without giving them a hearing. There is no middle ground with these people.

Libertarians are some of the worst in this regard. They hate all government (except of course the government they like; they are hypocrites, but uncompromising ones). If you say “You know, people shouldn’t discriminate” they argue that it is their right to discriminate and if you don’t let them kick gays out of their business then you are violating their freedom! (They of course, could care less about the freedom of anyone else.)

Seriously, how do you deal with these people? Well, you can’t. You can lead someone to compromise, but you can’t make them think.

And you know what I’ve found? So many of these people are unhappy with life. They lack empathy for anyone else’s view. They’re angry all the time because they are constantly fighting battles they can’t win because of their inability to compromise.

I don’t always get my way. The people I can deal with also don’t always get their way.

And that’s just fine.