THE COMPROMISING MINDSET: APPLIED IN POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY

The compromising mindset tracks the two defining characteristics of compromise, but it turns them in a more constructive direction for the purpose of governing (and advocating)

Principled Prudence

Principled prudence seeks to overcome the intransigence of standing on principle. It begins with a pragmatic recognition that compromise is usually necessary in a democracy to accomplish anything of significance. But it amounts to more than making a virtue out of the necessity of compromise. It has a moral component that stands as a reminder that to fail to compromise is to privilege the status quo. If a compromise really is an improvement, then the compromising mindset opens up opportunities for achieving greater justice.

Although  it is a mistake to try to judge the overall value of a compromise by a set of coherent principles, it is still necessary to decide whether the compromise is an improvement over the status quo. That is the minimal condition for justifying any compromise. Such a justification requires showing that the compromise is an improvement from the perspectives of all sides. Otherwise, the agreement is not a compromise but a capitulation by one side to the other.

The judgment that a compromise is an improvement is in principle contestable, sometimes reasonably so. But in practice the objection that a particular compromise is worse than nothing is often disingenuous; it is a common tactic in the bargaining process. When the objection expresses a genuine comparison between the compromise and the status quo, it almost always assumes the possibility of achieving a better compromise in the foreseeable future. In that case, the objection is not that the proposed compromise itself is worse than the status quo, but that it is worse than a hoped-for future compromise.

The problem with rejecting a compromise in the hope of a better one to come is that the rejection itself becomes an obstacle to reaching the future compromise. The compromising mindset cannot eliminate these biases, but it can help clarify the value of the current compromise by directing attention to the critical comparison: does the compromise promote the core principles of all parties better than the status quo?

Principled prudence also reverses the uncompromising perspective on the incoherence of compromises. It sees the incoherence of the principles underlying many compromises. Such incoherence can be an indication that the democratic process respects opposing principles and values. If the process has been fair and the outcome an improvement, the disarray in the principles may be, if not celebrated, then at least appreciated.

Principled prudence should not be mistaken for being unprincipled. Some of the most successful compromisers are as well-known for taking strong principled stands as they are for making difficult compromises. Nor is principled prudence incompatible with partisanship--at least not with what has been called "respectable partisanship." The most cogent defenses of partisanship impose on partisans rather strong ethical demands that support principled prudence. Partisans should advance principles of justice they believe others could share; they should strive to "locate common ground," and should be "as ready to peacefully suffer [their] losses as to enjoy [their] victories.

The partisanship that is worth defending is practiced by those who are prepared to make prudent but principled concessions. The compromising mindset permits parties to maintain their distinctive identities and to press their partisan agendas, not only in campaigning, but also in governing. While they legitimately govern with an eye to the next election, they also keep focused on making progress on their agenda, even when they happen to be in the minority. Principled prudence does not exclude partisan attitudes from governing, but it does seek a better balance of mindsets.

Mutual Respect

The second characteristic of the compromising mindset addresses the willful opposition that marks compromise. It counsels adversaries to negotiate in good faith and to restrain suspicions about ulterior motives: assume that your opponents' motives are mixed, that they act not only for their own political gain but also out of a desire to do what they think is right. In this way, without ignoring political realities, mutual respect counters the motive cynicism cultivated by the mutual mistrust in the uncompromising mindset.

Like toleration, mutual respect is a form of agreeing to disagree, but mutual respect brings with it more than the "live and let live" attitude of toleration. Mutual respect requires a favorable attitude toward, and constructive interaction with, the persons with whom one disagrees. It is the mindset of individuals who enter into negotiations in good faith, presuming their adversaries are as well-motivated as they are themselves, and also trying to act (at least partly) on principle.

Mutual respect is plainly a desirable ingredient in democratic politics, a virtue that makes debate more civil and relations more collegial. But it is more than that. In the case of compromise, it plays a special, more central role. To accept a compromise, you (and your supporters) have to believe that you are getting as much as you can reasonably expect under the circumstances. You do not want to sacrifice your principles or disappoint your supporters by passing up a better (more just) result you could have won by putting more pressure on your adversaries, or by holding out for more concessions. That would, reinforce the motive cynicism that lurks in the hearts of politicians and voters.

The biggest challenge in defending an attitude of respect toward adversaries arises from the fact that the parties to a compromise cannot be certain that an agreement is the best they could achieve under the circumstances. This uncertainty infects not only ex ante but also ex post judgments about compromises. The answer to the question of what would have happened if one's side had resisted more strongly depends on a complex set of counterfactual assumptions that are hard to assess objectively at any time. People are far more certain about their principles than they are about probabilities, and judgment therefore tends to be driven more by principles. (This dynamic also reinforces principled tenacity.)

Under conditions of uncertainty, the trust that mutual respect generates is essential. It is one of the few resources on which the parties to a compromise can draw to assure themselves that they are getting as much as they can reasonably expect, and to assure their supporters that they are not selling out. If you and your supporters have reason to believe that your adversary is negotiating in good faith, you can have more confidence in deciding whether and how much to concede. If you and your supporters suspect that your adversaries are engaged in duplicitous behavior, you are likely to resist a compromise even if it appears to be (and actually is) an improvement on the status quo. By the same token, compromise becomes more difficult to the extent that adversaries try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of the other side, manipulate public opinion, or threaten political reprisals out of proportion to the issues at stake.

The cynical attitude that looks for ulterior motives in every move by political opponents is of course not entirely wrong. In politics, most people's motives are mixed. Accordingly, the process of compromise supplies more than enough evidence for motive cynicism. Even worthy attempts to keep reaching out to opponents who persistently rebuff your approaches need not be driven mainly by noble motives. If opponents are unwilling to concede anything of importance, this approach may still offer valuable moral (and political) cover when they finally have to draw the line, and reject a putative compromise that would actually amount to a capitulation. By taking the high ground and reaching out to opponents, politicians make a symbolic statement and keep open the possibility of cooperation on the basis of mutual respect. Whatever their intentions, they may find that their opponents may even take them up on their offer. If it turns out that their opponents still show no willingness to compromise, they not only gain some high ground, but also demonstrate that they are not the ones blocking cooperation across partisan or factional lines.

The window of compromise rarely opens to politicians who always assume the worst about the motives of their adversaries. It takes repeated outreach to adversaries, accompanied by at least a temporary suspension of motive cynicism, to discover opportunities for compromise

One defense is "economizing on moral disagreement." This practice encompasses several different strategies. It first encourages politicians to find common ground by dividing issues into their more and less contentious parts, and to make deals on the less contentious parts as a way to build mutual trust for finding agreement on the more contentious ones. This strategy, though, is of limited use in the case of comprehensive policy changes.

A more promising general strategy of economizing on moral disagreement is to seek cooperation on other issues where there might be more hope for agreement. The governing process is more likely to encourage mutual respect through this other-issue type of cooperation to the extent that it takes place in institutions that require politicians to work together on a continuing basis, and permits them to cultivate reputations and relationships across oppositional divides. Trust is more likely to be generated not in one-time negotiations but over time as politicians who oppose one another on some issues find ways to work together on others. As mutual mistrust can degenerate into a spiral of suspicion that is hard to stop, so mutual trust, once established, is self-reinforcing. It can persist even in the face of strong disagreements and ideological polarization. In the presence of mutual trust (along with principled prudence), the strong ideological differences that characterize a polarized politics need not stand in the way of cooperation and compromise.

The third important strategy of economizing on disagreement takes for granted that disagreement will persist on most issues. The democratic process does not always or even usually yield agreement, let alone general consensus. Dealing with the disagreement that is endemic to democratic politics in a respectful way is essential to reaching desirable compromises, whether now or in the future. Even rhetoric can make a difference. How politicians describe not only the substance of their opponents' proposals, but also their motives, affects the possibility of mutual respect. Economizing requires a particular kind of verbal self-restraint in politics: it counsels avoidance of extreme exaggeration of the positions of opponents.