Compromising With Iranians, and Christians

MY, OH MY, aren't we a compromising, conciliatory bunch, we Americans. Actually, we really are, or, once were. The late eminent historian of the American south, C. Vann Woodward, pointed out that on several occasions the act of compromise allowed the United States first to come into existence, then to remain in existence. The very structure of American government is a shining example of the spirit of compromise. North and south, large states and small, federal, state, and local federalism. When you have a national constitution which divides power equally between three branches of government, and again between an upper and lower legislative body, you have compromise. When you have a national constitution which defines an African-American as three fifths of a human being, you have compromise. The very term "African-American" represents a sort of compromise - a compromise of identity. On several occasions, most notably in 1820 and 1850, with two Missouri compromises, compromises delayed the War Between the States; but they did not prevent it. Perhaps nothing could have. Compromises do not always work. We have sadly become a nation in which achieving compromise is more painful than pulling teeth with string and a door knob. Just as the American middle class has polarized into rich and poor, so, it would seem, have our opinions. Yet there is hope. We Americans seem to be able to reach a compromise with Iran concerning nuclear weapons; we can keep ours, and they cannot have any. Most Americans are in favor of this arrangement. Those who are not, one might suspect, are simply unwilling to accept anything that president Obama has anything to do with. If Obama had tricked the iranians into surrendering their entire arsenal, nuclear and conventional, the Obama haters would be up in arms, because Obama did it. Nonetheless, two countries can still compromise, and the United States can still be one of the countries involved, barely. We must remember that in a good compromise, nobody is supposed to be happy, but everyone is supposed to be tolerant of the arrangement, if displeased. And maybe,just maybe, we can find a way to soothe the Christian minions of America into believing that nobody is threatening to alter, abolish or, heaven forbid, compromise their beliefs, while giving them their precious right to have nothing to do with people of whose sexual orientation they so devoutly disapprove.