Everything we humanly do can be classified as a transaction or negotiation. In other words, it does not have to be an economic activity or an exchange of money for an item to have a transaction or negotiation for what we want. Transactions are happening every second of our lives; with family members, with friends or total strangers, neighbors, and every other aspect of our social lives but mostly in the political and diplomatic world we have some form of transaction or negotiation. As a matter of fact, the world is depending on negotiations to conduct every day business and international affairs. In every one of those transactions or negotiation, each party wants something different. Even though they are looking for something different from each other, it’s not always easy to compromise to complete the negotiation. Why? Because we believe we should always have exactly what we want in the transaction in exchange for what we are willing to give up. But few important things we have failed to understand that human beings may have similarity but it’s unlikely to be identical in taste as well as desire for things we value in our lives.

 Let us work on some examples to illustrate our points here. In a family situation, the kids wanted to go the mall to hang out with their friends on Saturday afternoon. They asked their parents and the parents decided to let the children go to the mall but they have to meet certain conditions. They have to be home no later than 9:00 PM and they can’t be late. The kids agreed with the terms and the parents granted permission for them to go to the mall and be with their friends on that Saturday afternoon. In this example, there has been a negotiation and an exchange between the parents and the kids: “I give you permission to go to the mall to be with your friends, if you are willing to be back home exactly at 9:00 PM.” In that case, if the kids accepted the term in that negotiation, the transaction is pending until the children get back home at 9:00 PM as they agreed to. The kids were home that night at 8:57 PM. That concludes that transaction and both parties got what they want out that transaction and all of them shake hands and are happy.

 Negotiations or transactions between friends or total strangers are more formal than between parents and children. In that example above, it was simple and personal because the parents have more control on the outcome of that negotiation. What could happen when you have to deal with friends or someone you don’t know? As you negotiate in a situation you are concerned about your personal interest. You are looking to at least obtain something of equal value or more of what you are about to give up. Here are two examples we can use to illustrate this concept: one of the negotiators would say “I will trade you my baseball card collection for your golf bag.” A more formal transaction goes like this: “I will trade you my BMW 7-series plus $85,000 in exchange for your Roll-Royce Ghost.” These are all forms of transactions and negotiations that are happening every day between family, friends, total strangers, and they are not different from government bodies to use those form of negotiations to solve national problems.

 Those examples above are very basic fundamentals in any negotiation or transaction between two parties. Can those basic principles be used in our national debates to solve the fundamental problems our country is facing? We have one major problem with elected members of the United States Congress: they can change a simple issue and make it so complex, it becomes impossible to solve. Radical ideology is the driving force for members of the United States Congress. They lost the main purpose why the voters elected them in office. They completely forgot what they promised during their campaign and ignore the problems the country has to be resolved. They are more concerned about the next election and they spend more time in raising money than concentrating on solving national problems on behalf of the voters. Some of these elected officials are not fit to be members of the governing bodies in our national government. Some of them are uneducated, ignorant of the basic functions of governing, and lack of problem solving skills. We need people who understand the real issues involve in our government, people who can analyze and access the reality, and not scared of making rational decisions in the best interest of the country instead of people who think about their job at the expense of our country. Real patriots are visionaries who do not care about who paid for their election but care very dearly about their country’s future and the generations to come.

 The United States Congress is becoming a real dysfunctional institution. During the pass three years we experienced many acts to prove how defective the United States Congress became. During the 2010 mid-term election, the voters elected a group of representatives who are lacking in governing skills, they’re angry, hate the head of the executive branch of our government, and they worked in harmony to restrict progress and that make it difficult to work on real national problems to come up with real solutions that may benefit the country. We have seen those unproductive acts during the health care debate, the debts ceiling debate that downgraded the national credit rating, and many legislations that were suppose to create jobs nationwide have blocked without a fair up or down vote. These careless actions are the evidence to prove that our government has been broken. Our ideas may be different but if we make the effort to meet half way then some solutions could be beneficial for the country.

Discredit one member of the governing body maybe a great way to score political points but honestly it’s not the best way to govern a country like the United State of America. Like good patriotic citizens, we must be willing to accept political defeats for the benefits of this country because the future of this country is depending on the current actions and decisions of our elected officials. Remember, if the pass administrations acted the way the current US Congress has, we may not have the freedom we all enjoyed as American citizens and the pride to be a United States citizen. Forget about your ideology, just work together for the best interest of the United States of America. It’s not an easy job to compromise on your political ideology and principles but as a real patriot you must work with your opponents for the benefit of the future of our country and your constituents.

Related articles

• William Pierce: Are Political Negotiations Dead? (huffingtonpost.com)
• What Would Be The Position of The United States In The World? (wdcnews.com)
• Congress Can Learn From American Indians (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• The Treaties in Our Dreams (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Joseph A. Palermo: Five Right-Wing Political Obstacles That Must Be Sidelined (huffingtonpost.com)
• Dale Glading: Elect single-term Congress to solve debt issue (tcpalm.com)