Is Compromise the Genius of American Politics?

Read the following article by conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/opinion/22brooks.html?_r=1&hp and consider what American politicians did in 1787, 1820, 1832, and 1850 but did not do in 1860.  What is the essence and nature of political compromise?  Are there times and issues that call for compromise and times and issues when compromise would be wrong or unwise?  Should the different sides compromise on the issue of how to handle our current debt crisis?