The need to either build alliances with members of the other side or overcome their opposition at the polls, or on the floor of the Legislature, pushes us to refine and improve our ideas. The unexamined bill, as Socrates might have said, is not worth passing.
But, too often these days, in Utah and in Washington, what could be a healthy friction that hones our ideas into sharper plans has become a blockade. Neither side wants to move toward the other in a spirit of compromise or even admit that there is such a thing as middle, or common, ground.