Response to Partisanship

This is in response to Indira Dammu’ January 9 column, “Proud Partisian.” Bipartisan cooperation is truly what our government’s system is built upon. It is not only included in our Constitution, but it is also a part of our policy-making tradition. Our system was designed to moderate policy. That’s why it takes super-majorities to pass any Constitutional amendments, to override a veto, or to block a filibuster. The Founders designed our system to prevent hegemony, thus saving minority opinions.\nOther than sly maneuvers such as the Patriot Act, which was passed during a time of confusion and popular support for some sort of military action, extremely polarized policies are not passed very easily, if at all. Working together helps build a stable state. A democracy is only as just as it is stable. We cannot create freedom or equality without negotiating those two concepts on the foundation of a stable state. The first example of bipartisan cooperation was the first successful transfer of power in the election of 1800, a global first. Without that cooperation and mutual respect, there would be no stable state. During the lead up to the Civil War, the country had a tradition of adding one slave state for every free state, so as to balance out the influence of each persepctive. Many more examples of these sorts of actions exist.\nOur party system is currently skewed in America because our parties are no longer drawn up along the lines of more government versus less government, as they are traditionally separated. Remember that it was the Republicans (then the Whigs) under Lincoln who freed the slaves, and it was under Republican Teddy Roosevelt that the conservation movement got going. These are just two of many examples. Both parties can be attributed with making this country good, but it is their cooperation across party lines that has made it great. You are generalizing your statements about the Republican Party, and the fact is that if everyone had an approach such as yours to politics, the gridlock that would result could end our country’s ability to adapt and reform that has helped us be the longest standing democracy in the world.