Before we were married, Susie and I played Monopoly with a married couple.  I won the first game with little effort which greatly irritated the wife.  During the next game, she devised a strategy of buying one parcel of each group.  this would keep anyone from being able to put houses and hotels on any property.  Round after round consisted of trading minimum rents which meant an endless game.  Her husband was unable to persuade her to abandon her uncompromising strategy after almost two hours of play.

Soon I devised my own strategy and was able to convince her husband to do a deal with me giving me two medium priced ones in return for his getting a couple of higher producing ones.  It was very complicated but he needed to convince her to trade him properties that would not give him a set but would give her a set.  She would then have the only set to put hotels on.  After the trade he and I made the necessary trades so we had sets, too.  Making the right trades gave me a better than average chance of winning the game, which I did.  The wife was furious with me and her husband.  She and Susie made some trades in revenge, but compromise got the game moving where obstruction meant nothing was accomplished.

In Monopoly there can be only one winner.  In life it is possible for compromise to give everybody a chance to win.  Why is recounting a game that occurred over forty-eight years ago important today?  Look at Washington D. C. today.  The Democrats have the white house and the Senate. The Republicans have decided they won’t compromise on anything with the President and the Democrats in either chamber.  Our current political system requires compromise between the two parties and the three branches.

Today’s problem isn’t the usual bickering between parties.  It’s the dissention within the Republican party.  The leadership would like to do deals but that would require a majority of their own party.  Speaker of the House John Boehner has kept his position by the barest of votes and almost any hint of a compromise will cost him dearly in the House and in his district.

Just like in the game, if everybody would do a few deals allowing everyone to win some of what they want, the country would be better off.  We all know the majority of the voters aren’t in the game; they are just watchers.  The elected people  are the pieces on the game board and the real players are hiding in the shadows.  They have bought enough control to obstruct but not yet to get their way completely.