Winner Take All Politics
Extreme partisanship makes governing difficult in the United States. Every issue becomes part of a zero sum game. One side doesn’t win unless the other side loses and lawmakers end up bragging about legislation that didn’t get passed.
The never ending election cycle is partly to blame for this excessive partisanship. Politicians believe that they must constantly raise money for their political campaigns, so they have increasingly less time to do what we pay them to do.
Twenty four hour cable news stations and modern media don’t help either. High drama brings in the ratings and in politics that means sharp contrasts and an argumentative tone. Who wants to watch people working toward a compromise? It’s boring. There’s a reason C-SPAN is not at the top of many viewing lists.
Another problem we have in our country is the dominance of two political parties. In virtually every legislative district in the country there will be only two viable candidates in the next election, a Democrat and a Republican.
We need get more independent and third party candidates elected. With no party in the majority, compromise would once again become the order of the day. The two largest political parties would lose their ability to ram through legislation without forming some sort of coalition.
Our Constitution doesn’t mention Democrats and Republicans. It doesn’t envision two political parties in complete control. It does however; describe our government’s checks and balances in great detail. An increase in the number of independent and third party lawmakers would make those checks and balances more effective.
Independents, third parties, partisanship, Democrats, Republicans, political campaigns, Constitution
November 17th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
You’re right. I’ve said before, and it’s unfortunately true, that at the end of the day, we’re left with either one or the other. And the conundrum of whether to step outside the box and vote for a fave rogue candidate at risk of perhaps jeopardizing the results in the battle between the two real contenders.
November 18th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
[...] And these maps are carefully drawn to maintain the status quo. The people in charge want to stay in charge and this is how it’s done. The practice is also known as gerrymandering, but by any name it’s a [...]