Are We Better Than This?
It is a popular notion to suggest that the problem with American politics is that they have been taken over by a a virulent strain of hyper-partisanship that rendering its victim paralyzed Opinions vary as to the appropriate vaccine, but I would like to suggest that any course of treatment for the malady will fail to be effective because the thrust of the prognosis is off-base.
It is certainly true that the American political process is characterized by alternating bouts of ideological paralysis and pendulous oscillation that in many regards is counterproductive. But as Matthew Yglesias reminded us just a year ago, partisanship isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, this post appears in the League’s sustained discussion about what might constitute the “good side of partisanship”, wherein we’ve attempted to carve out the ways in which our ideological differences can be leveraged to the benefit of all.
No, in the discussion about what ails our political process, hyper-partisanship is properly understood not as the virus we seek to eradicate, but rather just another symptom of a much deeper affliction: laziness. [Read more →]
April 12, 2009 6 Comments
