Compromise lacking among politicians

To the editor:

To my mind, there are only four plausible candidates for president: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Hillary Clinton and John Kasich. Why? To the disgust of many, they are competent and experienced.

Some people are caught up in the folly that the best candidate for president is someone innocent of politics or who expresses the most extreme or outrageous opinions. This is no more than an angry or naive dream. Fortunately, I believe, most of these people will wake up by the time of the general election, if not for the caucuses.

The left wing of the Democratic Party is openly socialist and the Republican far right can only be called radical revolutionaries. Each of these factions has sullied the honorable names of conservative and liberal.

What this country needs is a return to center right and center left politics. This calls for compromise, something sorely lacking for many years. The Republicans cannot compromise even with themselves; witness the fiascos in Congress and between the candidates and their national party. The Democrats are stubborn, but at least they debate policy rather than slinging invectives.

'Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world ... The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” (Yeats)

Hal Dendurent

Mount Vernon