Bipartisanship is bad

You might be surprised to learn that a person such as myself who has political views that don't fit neatly within either party is a staunch proponent of partisanship and against the perpetual call to "work together" in Washington.

I support school choice which (theoretically) has a better chance with Republicans.
I support Universal healthcare which has a better chance with Democrats.

Within the above,

I support fully funding a school choice-voucher plan which Republicans tend to talk about smaller government and less spending.

I support a decentralized private sector approach to healthcare reform where there are as many decision makers as possible rather than a centralized approach.


Yet, even though there are good ideas throughout the political spectrum, we need one party to dominate at any one time to ensure competence and accountability.

With a "working together" scenario there is always an easy way to avoid responsibility because of compromise. No one fully takes ownership.

Additionally, we need to remember why our nation has lasted so well, and so long in comparison to other countries.

Politics is war without the bloodshed.

Real war. Playing for keeps. For jobs. For money. For power. For history.
The Constitution is the rule book.

Our system allows the natural human emotions a non-violent and productive outlet.
So when we hate the people in the other party, and they hate us, that energy is put to work making the nation better, ultimately.

The people who keep talking about "reaching across party lines" not as a political gimmick but as a pratical reality are delusional.

I salute the Republicans for their effort to weaken and cripple the Obama agenda.
So far, they have done about as well as could be expected with victories in Virginia and New Jersey (governor's races) and the Mass. senate seat.

Democrats need to figure out how to fight hard with the Lead. It is much easier in our system to fight hard as the underdog. When you have a majority, much of the above anger I described above is turned on your party. You have people who passionately believe in a particular idea and feel like it should be implemented 100% while you are in power. If a party tries to do 75% it feels like 25% betrayal rather than 75% success. This can't be avoided since a system with 2 major parties must by definition include diversity that can't really be reconciled easily. Also, the constraints of our system frustrate the majority and temper whatever it is.

That's life. Deal with it. But don't make it worse by trying to "work together" and ignore human nature.

The President should simply figure out what it is he wants to be known for 10 years from now when he'll be out of office no matter what. Then work to do it.

Bipartisanship is only good if it's a means to end.
Your end.
We need the David Gergen's and Evan Bayh's of the world to make sure the war of politics follows the rule and doesn't overshoot the boundaries, but the country wasn't built by moderates. Every advance whether it is scientific, economic, political, whatever has been sparked by a zealot who was able to harness the energy.

That is the greatness of America.