Over the span of four decades and multiple U.S. presidents Yasser Arafat claimed to hold out an olive branch of peace. But in all that time he never once budged an inch towards compromise - all his power was derived from war.
Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt all agreed to a handful of basic understandings during WWII. Stalin then proceeded to break each and every promise he had made with the others - all his power was derived from war.
A compromise is only possible between parties that share an overriding, fundamental value.
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Every single day we hear pundits, journalists and politicians preach to us about compromise and make noise about reaching across the aisle. Yet never once do we hear them talk about shared fundamental values. Instead they toss out buzz words like moderates, centrists, alt-right and Freedom Caucus as if varying ideas within a political party is a brand new concept. It is not. Both political parties have always consisted of varying shades of grey so stop with the buzz words. They are part of the problem.
If politicians believe both parties share fundamental values then stand and deliver.
I see no evidence of that whatsoever.