More and more we are a country run by extremists. We flop from Democratic to Republican leaders every few elections and the two parties are becoming more extreme every year. Part of this is driven by the media, requiring something to be titillating before they will report it. The sensationalism drives us to a place where moderation is viewed as compromise instead of wisdom. We truly need to find balance as a nation in order to survive.

1. Taxation of the Rich
2. Immigration
3. Labor
4. Social Security
5. Entitlement Programs
6. Health Care
7. Same Sex Marriage
8. Abortion
9. Capital Punishment

If I look through these issues my opinions vary. On some I understand and agree with a more liberal approach. On others I see the truth in a conservative view. On some I fall in the middle and on others I wonder how on earth we ever thought that was an issue for the federal government. What I have found is most people do not fall to the extremes on all issues. Many, I could argue most, find themselves unrepresented and stuck settling for the support of one extreme in a given election. Depending on the issue at hand determines where there vote goes. This is not a good place for our country to be.

Our country was founded on balance. The balance of power between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The balance between states rights and federal law. I will try to make my point clearer by tackling one of the issues listed above. One moderately emotional issue is labor, and it is a good place to start. We can all remember wildly silly abuses on both sides of this issue and many intelligent people can realize the need for balance. You cannot have all the power be with management or with a union. Either is a disaster.

The idea of workers banding together to establish healthy working rules should be very important to us. Often business owners are not fully aware of the issues and conditions the employees of their company endure on a daily basis. Sometimes they are simply greedy. Giving workers the power to object to unreasonable expectations, unhealthy work environment, poor health care etc is not just good, it should be a priority. Giving unions so much power they run the business is not wise either. The workers do not have a full perspective on the business challenges of the day, they do not have a visionary perspective. It is only natural that with too much power production will drop and costs will rise beyond tolerable. I have experienced both extremes in my career and neither ends well.

What is needed is balance. When you strike a balance on the labor issue we end up with a productive, trained and fulfilled workforce. Businesses can thrive, innovation and quality abound and our economy works like it should. There are pockets of the country where unions have too little power and we see poor wages, less skill and shoddy workmanship. There are pockets of the country where unions have too much power. We have inefficiency, foolish work rules, laziness and lethargy in the workplace.

I hope we can begin to see that there is a healthy balance to be striven for in many of these divisive issues. The type of balance I describe is not compromise. It is not negotiation. It is an intentional balance of the power that can protect us from abuse and foster growth. It is in that balance we can find hope for the future.