While it may take much effort and skill to compromise on disparate budget numbers, whether to have a public health-insurance option for the poor or sick, and whether to add regulations for the biggest banks, these compromises are actually rather narrow relative to the political-ideological spectrum. Broadening out the poles could include adding revenue considerations to the differences on spending, replacing private health insurance companies with an expanded Medicaid/Medicare program, and breaking up the $1 trillion plus banks. It could also include a balanced budget amendment complementing drastic spending cuts, having the state governments decide whether Medicaid and Medicare continue as state rather than federal programs (and how), and deregulating the financial sector further. Were public officials to enlarge the domain subject to compromise, compromise itself would be more allusive even as more positions would be represented.
