Can two diametrically opposed political parties govern amidst the poison of an election year?

The Congressional Budget Office recently forecast that the federal budget deficit would once again top $1 trillion. While that is an improvement over recent deficits that reached $1.4 trillion — and the smallest deficit since 2009 — the widening pool of red ink threatens to engulf the United States in fiscal ruin.

The national debt now stands at $15.2 trillion. Republican leaders continue to assert that any increase in tax revenue must be offset by decreases in spending, resulting in no net gain in revenue. The Obama administration seems far too focused on enormous tax hikes aimed at the wealthy, and many Democrats still oppose substantive entitlement reform.

Absurdly, Congress' inability to reach a compromise with the administration last year took our nation to the brink of default and an actual downgrading of U.S. debt.

No meaningful compromise seems possible, especially as we are just nine months away from a presidential election.

But there are signs of hope. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said the "CBO's latest alarm bell could not be more