Eight letters; starts with "G" - ends in "K"

Folks who know me well are aware that part of my daily wind-down includes doing a crossword puzzle. Well, in truth, I usually do 3-4 daily: a few online and then buy the New York Times crossword. It’s also kind of a rule – it must be done in pen (yeah, I’m bragging a little!).

The crossword puzzle is familiar: a grid with numbers that correspond to clues that hint at words to enter horizontally or vertically (in the crossword vernacular, Across or Down). You may or may not have noticed, but the blacked out squares are usually presented in a “rotational symmetry” – you could rotate the puzzle 180 degrees and the black boxes would have the same pattern.

The typical daily crossword grid is fifteen by fifteen squares. The Sunday New York Times crossword is twenty-one by twenty-one.

From the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament website (http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html)

The first known published crossword puzzle was created by a journalist named Arthur Wynne from Liverpool, and he is usually credited as the inventor of the popular word game. December 21, 1913 was the date and it appeared in a Sunday newspaper, the New York World. Wynne's puzzle differed from today's crosswords in that it was diamond shaped and contained no internal black squares. ): It was in this period crosswords began to assume their familiar form. Ten years after its rebirth in the States it crossed the Atlantic and re-conquered Europe.

The grid is the key. Or is it?

Of course, it is no surprise that both leftists and rightists are bemoaning the “gridlock” that exists in our U.S. Congress and Executive Branch. Evidence includes that over 300 bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives haven’t been offered to the U.S. Senate for a vote. Only 12 amendments proposed by Republicans have been put up for a vote; only eight from Democrats.

Gridlock comes from an utter unwillingness to compromise. How dare these elected officials behave in this manner?

I suggest that many voters create the environment where compromise isn’t tolerated.

I’ve met many people who would deny their vote to someone who could end poverty, effectively foster world peace, solve immigration issues, eradicate the national debt, and cure left-handedness (I jest) but don’t stump on the preferred side of that voter’s position on ________________________ (fill in the blank: Gay Marriage, Animal Rights, Marijuana, the Death Penalty, Abortion, Gun Rights, Tax Policy, etc. etc. etc.).

We tell the candidates that we’ll only support them if they adhere lock-step to our particular issue. Those who study such things have posited that this behavior can be predicted through mathematical models. One such model is the Linear Position Model (Davis, Otto A., Melvin J. Hinich, and Peter C. Ordesbook (1970). “An Expository Development of a Mathematical Model of the Electoral Process.” American Political Science Review 64: 426-49):

The Linear Position Model attempts to predict how strongly an individual will issue vote in an election. The model suggests that the more a voter and candidate agree on a particular issue, the better chance the candidate has of receiving the individual's vote. In this model, a graph is used to display the relationship between the number of people

voting for the party and the consistency of the issue position. The equation “Y = a + bX” is used, where the variable “a” represents the minimal amount of people voting for the party, “b” is a variable used to ensure that there is a positive gradient, "X" represents the consistency of the party's issue position, and Y represents the number of people who vote for the party.

Now, that’s a bit more scientific than I am. I just know that I’ve run into plenty of people who will dismiss entire swaths of the population because they don’t fall in step on pet issues. I believe that one can keep one’s principles intact (and perhaps even fortify them) if one is open to listening to opposing points of view. Listening doesn’t put anyone at risk.

Five letters, begins with B: “a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc.”









Crossword image reported to be in the public domain and available at: http://colouringbook.org/art/svg/coloring-book/studiofibonacci-crossword-puzzle-black-white-line-art-scalable-vector-graphics-svg-clip-art-coloring-colouring-book-scallywag-coloring-book-colouring-sheet-coloring-book-colouring-page-colouringbook-o/

Closing clue definition from Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bigot)
Chart from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_voting#mediaviewer/File:Linear_Model_of_Issue_Voting,_April_2012.jpg