Liberal 'Compromise'

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Rhetoric has been cut loose from reality in the hands of the Democrats for some time now, but in the current calls for spending "compromise," an apotheosis has been reached.

The great Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, once pointed out that, in the way words are used in the modern era, all assertions tend to suggest their opposite. This has certainly been the case with Democrats. When Bill Clinton asserted that he had never had sex with "that woman," it meant that he most certainly had, and just about everyone in America understood it -- eventually, at least.

Since then, liberals have crossed the line into full-blown duplicity, if not delusion. Wasteful spending is routinely called "investment," crushing regulations are mere "oversight," while vast new taxes are "necessary revenue enhancements." If Obama ever starts shipping Americans who disagree with him off to the gulag, he'll probably call it a "destination club."

As for now, in the wake of the debt ceiling debate, Democrats are insisting on their willingness to compromise. It is the Republicans, held hostage by the Tea Party, who refuse to do so, or so they say. Democrats want a reasonable, balanced approach -- one that "works for the American people." They want to compromise on spending, on taxes, on health care, on regulation, and on every other issue of the day. They are just about the nicest folks in the country, while Republicans are rigid ideologues, unwilling to bend an inch.

That may not sound like bipartisan talk, but Democrats have an answer for that one, too. It's conservatives in the GOP who are "holding them hostage." Conservatives are trying to "wreck things" by insisting on a balanced budget. If they would just get back to business as usual, Democrats would not have to call them out.

Applying Kierkegaard's law, it is not difficult to see what compromise means for the left wing of the Democratic Party. What it means is continued confrontation -- a further hardening of ideology and a total unwillingness to listen to the American people. It means continued pandering to the liberal base of unions, trial lawyers, environmentalists, and welfare clients -- all at the expense of the taxpayer.