Now, I am not saying that this would be a good thing. Still, if a person really wanted to meet in the middle between the sane who want to protect out social safety net (medicare, medicaid, and social security) and those who protect the wealthy, there is one proposal that would accomplish that goal. It is surprisingly simple. In this case, it would not work simply due to how ideological almost all Republicans are.
The idea would be that Speaker Boehner would pick 3 House Democratic Representatives for the SuperCommittee, Minority Leader Pelosi would pick 3 House Republicans for the Supercommittee, Minority Leader McConnell would pick 3 Senate Democratic Members and Majority Leader Reid would pick 3 Senate Republicans.
Now, as I say, this would not really produce anything reasonable, in this particular case, simply due to the extremity of the Republican caucus in both the House and the Senate. Yet, for the one who wants to find a happy compromise between the rational and the irrational, is this approach not obvious.
Which members would Speaker Boehner pick ? And that would speak volumes about them.
Which members would Minority Leader McConnell pick ? This would speak volumes about them.
How would this play out politically for those members ? What legislation would they produce ?