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Conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn has pulled out of the "Gang of Six" negogiations in the Senate which were aimed at finding a solution to the nation's long-term deficit problems. The bad news is that, once again, the politicians in Washington have been unable to fashion the kind of compromise that is required. The good news is that today's GOP is tilted so far to the right that any compromise would not be anywhere near the center.
The way to solve the long-term deficit problem is for both parties to articulate their approaches, with definite plans, and run on those plans in the 2012 election. Let the voters decide. Of course, the voters might just render a mixed and muddled verdict. Voters tend to do that. But, the current negotiations are being conducted by two parties that both over-interpreted their mandates, the Dems in 2008 and the GOP in 2010. And, in the nature of such negotiations, I fear that the Dems will cave more than the GOP.
