By now, in these last remaining days before the election of 2012, we have learned enough about the beliefs of the Republican presidential candidate to see them as a worldview all its own -- a kind of creed that explains Mitt Romney. Those who say he has no principles are selling him short.

We're coming to the end of a bitter election feeling as if we're two nations rather than one. The challenge -- not only for our president and representatives in Washington but for all of us -- is to rediscover the public good.

The election may have been enough of a slap in the face to cause Tea Partiers to rethink their overall strategy of intransigence. And to give Boehner and whatever moderate voices are left in the GOP some leverage over the crazies in their midst.

I had naively assumed the election would put an end to the games, but obviously not. Yet Obama and the Democrats are holding most of the cards now. Let's hope they use them.

Assuming the goal in the Grand Bargain is $4 trillion of deficit reduction over the next decade (that's the consensus of the Simpson-Bowles commission, the Congressional Budget Office, and most independent analysts), here's what the President should propose.

The Congressional Budget Office and most independent economists say it will suck so much demand out of the economy that it will push us back into recession. That's the austerity trap of low growth, high unemployment, and falling government revenues Europe finds itself in. We don't want to go there.

If Republicans won't budge on raising tax rates but insist on broadening the base, Democrats should take aim at the biggest tax loophole of all for America's wealthy: the preference for capital gains. Capital gains should be taxed the same as ordinary income.

The path of least resistance is for congressional Republicans and the president to agree to kick the can down the road -- keeping everything as it is (current spending, the Bush tax cut) until a date in the not-too-distant future -- say, March 15.

Can we please get a grip? The only sentient beings in a corporation are the people who run them or work for them. When it comes to criminality, they're the ones who should be punished.

The best way to generate jobs and growth is for the government to spend more, not less. And for taxes to stay low -- or become even lower -- on the middle class.

If "pragmatic deal maker," as the Wall Street Journal describes Geithner, means someone who believes any deal with Republicans is better than no deal, and deficit reduction is more important than job creation, we could be in for a difficult December.

The GOP doesn't want to show any flexibility. Meanwhile, the White House has started the bidding with substantial concessions on tax increases and spending cuts. Haven't we been here before?