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Wisdom of consensus

Jun 05, 2023 Editorial

Editorial…

Kaieteur News – The United States debt-ceiling bill has passed the contentious and raucous House of Representatives, and made it through the US Senate in a late-night vote of 63 to 36.  The time was tight, with the final hurdle now cleared, and the required 60 votes evidence of the seesaw history of this most heated of political issues.  Resistance signaled quickly evaporated, for no senator with any political acumen remaining would want to be the one who sees his or her name branded in infamy.  After all the flaming rhetoric and vehement objections in the House of Representatives, the debt-ceiling bill did pass by a reasonably comfortable margin, with the Senate following suit.

Considering the progress to this point, and the heavy weather that it endured, the passage of the debt-ceiling bill in the Congress is a testimony to the wisdom of consensus.  It certainly qualifies as a rarity in its bipartisan nature, and especially when there is an understanding of what is at stake, from the credit of a country and faith in it, to the programs and people who would have been affected severely.  The wisdom of arriving at consensus after many pitched battles is also a tribute to the enduring power of compromise.  President Biden said it well, when he gave credit where credit was due, and thanked “Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith.”

Good faith represents two words that have much verbal currency in Guyana, but of the sincerity that makes those two words work, there is great doubt.  Sincerity fosters trust, trust feeds into partnership, and it is the kind of partnership that leads to developments that are positive.  The groundwork is laid for more and better collaboration, and in the best sense of that word that has become a slur.  Political adversaries in Guyana are quick to point to each other and hurl accusations of not operating in ‘good faith’ and which has contributed to the ongoing stalemates that have left citizens dangling, and wondering about where all this wrangling and squabbling will lead.

There was wrangling and squabbling in the US House of Representatives on that much-disputed debt-ceiling bill, with many fervent vows to stop it in its tracks and kill it.  The Freedom Caucus was conspicuously critical and caustic, and the old revolutionary elements of the reengineered Tea Party were out in force, very much present; even members of the President’s own party voted by the dozens against the debt-ceiling bill.  But when cards had to be put on the table, and chips cashed, the debt-ceiling bill made it past the first of its two hard hurdles.  Again, it was President Biden who uttered what is now accepted as commonsense wisdom.  Agreement on the bill represents the best of what “is a bipartisan compromise.  Neither side got everything it wanted.”

Those two words “bipartisan” and “compromise” are noticeably missing from the vocabulary of the major political parties in Guyana in whom so much of the local electorate place their confidence.  It is why Guyana lurches in some direction or the other on one foot from one depressing and deplorable condition to another.  In the domestic political arena, everyone wants everything for himself or his group.  This is why we usually end up with what is a mixed bag at best or a poisoned chalice at worst, and more often.

Compromise means that everyone has to give up something to get something.  It is not the perfect situation, but one that is characterized by some sensible give and take that is practical, when all circumstances are considered.  It is what makes systems work, what helps to overcome bottlenecks, what sets the stage for relationships to be built, and what opens the door to more and more working together.  For a considerable amount of time passage of the debt-ceiling bill hung in the balance, with serious doubts on any timely material progress.  Yet it is done to a point, and it speaks volumes to the maturity of American democracy, the art of strong leadership and tough governance.

Our own leaders and political groups should learn from America about how to adjust to get national issues done.  Putting heads together inspires compromise, empowers consensus.

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