'The Second Civil War' by Ronald Brownstein »
Posted By deathray 1 year, 8 months ago in Arts & EntertainmentKen Mehlman, campaign manager for George W. Bush in 2004 and chairman of the Republican National Committee for part of Bush's second term, calls this "the age of hyperpartisanship," in which almost every force related to our political life "operates as an integrated machine to push the parties apart and to sharpen the disagreements i
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deathray
Hm...summarizing a life...Investment banker, sailor, unintentional gourmet cook. Ex US Naval officer, also Foreign Service. Split my time between NYC and Miami Beach ...
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deathray1 year, 8 months ago
Wielding a catchphrase lifted from Ken Mehlman, campaign manager for George W. Bush in 2004 and chairman of the Republican National Committee for part of Bush's second term, Brownstein calls this "the age of hyperpartisanship," in which almost every force related to our political life "operates as an integrated machine to push the parties apart and to sharpen the disagreements in American life."
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Klarissa1 year, 8 months ago
Unfortunately, even though it is just a review of a book, it so painfully true.
I feel that our representatives have lost sight of "the people" that they have been elected to serve. They are thinking only of their own power, and perhaps the power to give porkbarrel monies to buy votes.
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ETproductions1 year, 8 months ago
I think the hour glass exists much more within the beltway and the two parties than within "we the people". What's happened out in the heartland is that there has been a move toward the center. Both the far left and extreme right are becoming very vocal, but not so many people are listening to either song any longer.
The independents will choose who wins the White House in 08.
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spkguy1 year, 8 months ago
"Ken Mehlman, campaign manager for George W. Bush in 2004 and chairman of the Republican National Committee for part of Bush's second term, calls this "the age of hyperpartisanship."
He should know he helped create it, remember this?
RNC defends Ford ads, says it won't yank them
NASHVILLE - While Bob Corker has urged that one Republican National Committee TV ad be taken off the air, Harold Ford Jr. on Tuesday called on Tennessee stations to stop broadcasting another.
Federal Election Commission figures indicate the RNC is spending about $1.5 million on the two ads. A total of almost $8 million in such "independent expenditures" have now been reported in the current Tennessee U.S. Senate campaign - apparently, a record amount for Tennessee.
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jovial1 year, 8 months ago
One thing you have to give the Republican party. They stick through it, right or wrong. (at least the far right side of it.) They are the main ones calling the shots as well. If one of them falls, they quickly start the damage control. Spinning stories, getting "talking points" out to the network, and attacking the antagonists. It's a concerted effort that involves the media, politicians, the whitehouse press core, and the President himself. Remember, every Republican that fell from this administration with disgrace was remembered fondly by the President and/or the Vice President as a honorable man. This includes, Rumsfeld, Attorney Gonzalez, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby. All wrongdoing is covered up meticulously and documents are never surrendered, because they use the excuse of "national security". So without the proper tools and evidence to get these guys the right-wing just thumbs their nose at the people. They know we can't do JACK!
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GWHayduke1 year, 8 months ago
Change is fundamentally difficult to accept, particularly if you are content with status quo. That is why Republicans are able to maintain their stranglehold on this country. Their constituents support inertia.
A promise of the maintenance of current scenarios and a proposition of impending doom with progression has been enough to keep the complacent in power. Yet the world continues to evolve.
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Endoscopy1 year, 8 months ago
jovial
And you don't think the kind of rant you are giving here is not part of the problem?
Democrats have since the election of 2000 have been getting worse and worse with their rhetoric about Bush. I have noticed since a radio show where it was hammered home to me that both sides and especially the left will say outrageous things about the opposition and nobody on the same side thinks what they are saying is evil. That is because they think the person is just saying the simple truth. These people pile on the rhetoric until it is hard to understand why they think is is just fact.
Unless a person is a member of the kook fringe Nazi party calling anybody that is way over the edge of reason. There are many term like this. ANYBODY saying these things should hang their head in shame.
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AnteUp1 year, 8 months ago
jovial ~
That policy of re-habing the scum isn't engaged in by the
Republicans exclusively - Look at the PRESS! I saw Armstrong Williams participate in an MSNBC or CNN panel (ala Crossfire) discussion. Is there any reason in the world why a respectable news outlet would think I wanted to hear HIS opinion?
MSNBC breaks from covering a Bush speech from the Rose Garden a week and a half ago that they had spent half the morning saying they would be covering - "stay tuned" - ........to do an interview with Coulter!
Blitzer hypes a two-part interview with Donald Trump as if
he were a head of state. He wasn't posing business questions
- no, he wanted Trump's opinion on world affairs and the
presidential candidates! Gag me!!
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AnteUp1 year, 8 months ago
engineer ~
We are unprepared for just how bad it is going to get.
"Dem's raise taxes"? That may get the GOP elected
but Republicans CUT SERVICES!
Middle class America - not having needed them before - has
no clue how many safety nets are NOT there for us anymore.
Just this past Sunday in the paper? Bakeries are really
stuggling holding prices with some ingredients going up
75% - just since January 2007. Your local small bakeries
will not weather the crunch as well as the big food
conglomerates........Goodbye Mom & Pop's! Hello Conagra!
Heating oil as of yesterday? 100 gallons = $300.00 -
and that will not be the high by the end of the season.
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cherev1 year, 8 months ago
And what do you propose to stop it? You claim, "If something is not done VERY, VERY fast, we will have a depression that will make 1929 look like a picnic. "
Your implication is that we're on the brink of an economic disaster. What about those like me who don't share your perception? Do you think we're interested in working with you when our perceptions are so radically different? My critics on this board aren't even interested in reaching out to try.
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Ratskii1 year, 8 months ago
There have been eras in American politics that have been worse than what we are seeing now. People fought duels and attacked each other in the streets over their political differences.
A substantial portion of the public is tired of it, as he mentioned in his second paragraph. I hope the left doesn't go to far in imitating the right. I have a feeling that the gains made in 2006 were partially a plea for a different kind of politics. The democratic party can also make gains among the people that the right-wing republicans are calling RINOs.
I think that the left in general and the democratic party in particular need to defend themselves actively without rising to the bait and using the most objectionable republican tactics and name calling. We're better than that.
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abntv1 year, 8 months ago
So you have two political parties at each others throats..a voting public that is fed up with nothing getting done..and nobody willing to play the true political game which is compromise..I my opinion what this country needs to do is elect someone that is a true moderate of either party...not someone trying to look like one..the voters need to start asking tough questions of the candidates..no more softballs
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1-2-Oscar1 year, 8 months ago
The "hyperpartisans" on both sides seem to have lost sight of the reality that most Americans are essentially decent people, with modest goals and a vast amount of tolerance for opinions at variance with their own. It is precisely because such tolerance exists that we have been able to change over time, and to accept radical changes in social acceptance and social responsibility. In my own lifetime this country has become more open, more tolerant, and infinitely more inclusive--so much so that candidates for our leadership in the twenty-first century have included a black, a woman, a Jew, and a Mormon. None of these would have been considered a serious candidate only a few years ago.
Our tolerance for others, and our willingness to accept change are two of our greatest strengths as a people. We must now reject the extreme and return to those characteristics which have made us one of history's most successful nations.
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deathray1 year, 8 months ago
Hi Oscar -
I agree that the majority of Americans are decent people, but I was wondering how you would explain the rise of partisan extremism in this country. It would seem that the US has cycles of both moderation and extremism, if you look at things from an historical perspective.
What brought us here:
Is it a collective psychosis?
Is it poor or misleading information transference through the media?
A lack of education and critical thinking skills?
The reduction of complex policy debate to sound bites?
I believe that the media in general tries to exacerbate the partisanship by asking questions which promote divisiveness, and that divisiveness is the punditocracy's oxygen. It gives them easy things to talk about.
What do you think?
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uncle-dave1 year, 8 months ago
FTA:
"...the Republican Party has morphed into "a centrally directed, ideologically coherent institution that demands loyalty, isolates and punishes dissent, and mobilizes every conceivable resource allied with it against the other side."
I think the above quote summarizes the condition of the GOP of today.
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Searchbeam1 year, 8 months ago
It is interesting to see Ken Mehlman's take on to-day's political scene.
Let us not forget that he was a major part of the mud-slinging, take-no-prisoners, swiftboater crowd of the 2004 elections.
His religion must have come to him through his repentence for his misdeeds and dirty tricks.
Isn't politics fun?
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Spadecaller1 year, 8 months ago
If the first civil war had ever really ended, I don't think Amerians would make such good targets for hyperpartisanship tactics today. Ideological, religious, regional, and racial conflicts have persisted with the American people for over two centuries.
Do you really think we could be so easily manipulated by disengenuous politicians who use that to maintain power? I don't.
Nonetheless, since the media and "trusted" government servants have fallen under the influence of special interests, I think it is easier than ever to inflame these integral differences.
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Redneck1 year, 8 months ago
We are in a cultural war. There are those who have been pushing to change the culture of America. If they cannot do it through the ballot they attempt it through the Courts. Many conservatives have finally realized their worldview is being undermined and they have arisen to take back ground. So they are challenging the status quo and the "progressives" as liberals call themselves. They are speaking to the ideas being fed to the citizens of this great land.
So there will continue to be "extremes" in opposing sides. The Left has made it clear they are not open to moving Right one inch. SO the Right has to pull all the more strongly to cause a slight movement to the right. This will not destroy America unless the Left rebels with arms. This is the public debate of ideas. con't
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deathray1 year, 8 months ago
Oh, see, there's that hyperpartisanship raising it's ugly head.
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1-2-Oscar1 year, 8 months ago
I think that is a gross oversimplification, and it is based on a very incomplete understanding both of our society and the political structure which it supports.
The term "culture wars" was an invention of enterprising journalism. Most Americans do not desire "war" (or even conflict) with anyone. They simply want to be free to pursue their own aspirations with as little interference from others, including the government, as possible. That is not "inertia," as another poster suggested. It is simple self-interest.
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DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 8 months ago
maybe its the fact I've been posting too mmuch and have been awake , ohhh, 21 hours or so, but when I read or hear all that 'left, right, left, right, left, right' stuff, I envision a little Uncle Sam guy marching off a cliff...
the idea of our leader being a uniter is interesting, but really all I've seen in the short time I've actively observed politics, is self-interest, wedge issues, ads championing fear and reaching past reason to tickle subconscious pathos [Willie Horton? that was before I paid attention, just a name] etc etc
I can honestly say, probably because I'm a newbie, I don't think in right and left terms, and tend to think in terms of right and wrong instead.
may sound self-congratulatory, but I think people would be better off to let go of the left/right stuff. like saying 'the left has nothing constructive to offer', which is an absurd and not particularly useful thing to say.
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klr601 year, 8 months ago
We, the people of this great country are not to be blame, except for the ones that put Bush in for a second term. It was about changing the guard-BS. Bush is no good. I am a Democrat & proud of it. My Dad always told me, the Dems are for the working mam-the GOP is for the rich-how true----------case closed
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cowboygrandpa1 year, 8 months ago
klr60: So true. That is why I registered republican when I was younger. I'd had enough of that hard work crap. LOL. Didn't work though I had to return to my roots. Just re-registered as a democrat the last election. Was so fed up with both parties I registered no party. No good though you can't vote in the primaries. So I'm back to the democrats.
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AnteUp1 year, 8 months ago
klr60 ~
I like your post - makes me nostalgic for another time.
It is the way I was raised too. Very partisan family.
We LOVED being Democrats in a kind of happy way.
Civil rights - worker rights - human rights.........
We just knew we could make this a better place!
Sadly, I'm much more wary of both party's candidates now.
It may not be true - but in the back of my mind I wonder -
that if they have enough money to run? They've already
promised their vote to somebody bigger than me, and their
agenda - not mine or the country's.
I would love to be proven wrong in 2008 - this is
truly a time of need in the nation. A little
show of character couldn't hurt.
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Searchbeam1 year, 8 months ago
Redneck,
Your analysis seems a little off-base, because you think that it is the left that does not want to budge an inch.
However, the facts on the ground are substantially different than that.
The Religious right with dogmatic and belligerent flame -throwers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and Machiavellian politicians like Newt Gingrich and Mitch McConnell, has pitched a tent so far to the right that nobody dare cross the dead zone of the middle ground to reach out.
The Liberals, the Left and the reasonable centrists have no place to go except to hold on to their strengths and beliefs.
Thus the lines are drawn. Politics has become a contact sport and nothing is off the limits.
In such an atmosphere, what would you expect but more polarization, division and battle lines drawn out.
It almost resembles the proverbial wild west.
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Klarissa1 year, 8 months ago
Search, your comment is biased in that you don't mention the far left liberals who won't budge.
So with an election in the NEAR future, Kuchinich is running a crusade to impeach Cheney.
To this non-lefty, it looks like he is trying to cover up the inaction on immigration, Iraq, Iran, health care, and climate change.
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canadianrancher571 year, 8 months ago
The direction your country is headed is no longer decided by the people, it is decided by special interest groups who lobby both parties and support candidates on both sides. Alot of people like to be considered conservative because it represents responsibility although many of them are more humanitarian than they are given credit for. Liberals on the other hand are considered by alot of people of being loose cannons, this statement is far fromthe truth as well. Does not the fighting in government between the parties sort of come down to money, There is much pork barreling going on and all elected representitives want to help those who have helped them. Once you get on the gravy train no one wants it to end so it seems all honor and integity seems to be thrown out and we are left with a bunch of people who forget the reason the were elected, that being to run the country.
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DarkWizard1 year, 8 months ago
canadianrancher57,
"Once you get on the gravy train no one wants it to end so it seems all honor and integity seems to be thrown out and we are left with a bunch of people who forget the reason the were elected, that being to run the country."
Excellent observation! Only the few remember why they were elected. The majority either forgets or never intended to represent their constituents. I think some actually get into politics just to get rich and retire on taxpayer money.
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DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 8 months ago
CR's post points toward something I have a hard time articulating. I just have this vague, nagging feeling that the political game behind the scenes is more about payback, hands washing the other, where the money goes etc. than any kind of moral compass or sense of justice, or really just duty of office.
Sort of a 'the fix is in' feeling of inexorable wrongness. This was my dad's view, and all he had was contempt for politics, and is probably why I never paid attention much before everything seemed to go down the tubes in an accelerated fashion recently.
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fempatriot1 year, 8 months ago
Both parties are working together to destroy the USA as created. They want open borders between the USA, Canada, & Mexico--the creation of the "North American Union." We will be under the rule of the Bilderbergs--the super-rich who meet once yearly in a secret meeting somewhere in the world (never makes the news)and plan how to reduce us back to the peasants we once were 200 years ago. The banking system, started in the 1400s by the Rothchilds, Warbergs, etc., is part of this & the huge corporations like Exxon, etc. Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, etc. belong to this group of elitists. They've created the European Union; we're next. We've lost most of our manufacturing base, the Panama Canal, east & west coast ports. We're losing our highways. Illegals are allowed to take over our jobs including construction. When will Americans get the message? We're doomed.
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HannibalBarca1 year, 8 months ago
I believe that most on this site are commenting on how both parties used to be, not how they are today, both parties have been bought by an outside influence whose agenda is power and money, nothing else.
Some have said that Americans welcome change, this I disagree with because when people get in a rut tunnel vision sets in and USA is suffering from tunnel vision, the same foreign policies year after year, the same domestic problems not solved due to labels; can't do that that is a socialist idea, etc.
I said it before USA is a two dimensional nation and as such all subjects fall into a black and white label, again no room for gray but probably 75% of Americans would fit in a gray box.
A third party would offer a new outlook but as already stated above somewhere it might not work so no don't do it. As a result todays candidates are just the same sh it but a different pile
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canadianrancher571 year, 8 months ago
When one asks what is wanted by the population of a country the answer is very difficult but when I look at your country I see some things that have been do make it better for all. Most people who came to your country wanted a chance to improve their lives, they wanted a chance to be treated fairly, they wanted freedom of religion. Many of the things they wanted they have received but if you ask what they want today maybe the answer is they want less government intervention for the government today is involved in many aspects of puplic life and ask you to pay for that intervention. This involvement hurts people financially and also it curtails some of your freedoms, these thing can lead to a hatered of the party that implemented certain policy and then the hatred is inflamed by the press or special interest groups. Most people would like to see poverty done away with in your country but when the idea is presented no one will move on it because politicians don't want to offend people.
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texangelwings1 year, 8 months ago
Our politicians seem to be suffering from 'me, me, me' syndrome! Instead of doing what is right for everyone, they are too busy looking out for 'self'. They are all going to have to start working together to make America strong and united, not divided.
Interesting book review, now I want to go buy the book!
Thanks Quicksilver for the headsup on this book review article.
Thanks DR.
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scott42611 year, 8 months ago
"Brownstein calls this 'the age of hyperpartisanship,' in which almost every force related to our political life 'operates as an integrated machine to push the parties apart and to sharpen the disagreements in American life'."
Yeah. And we see how well that worked out, don't we?
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amitakon1 year, 8 months ago
Pete Doherty is like the Debbie Does Dallas of heroin addicts.
Video here
http://hyinia.info/video.php?Pete-Doherty-heroi...
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vor1 year, 8 months ago
As Deathray pointed out 70% of Americans are unhappy with the current administration, even more are dissatisfied with Congress. Yet most American are happy with their lives (about the same 70% number). We now appear headed towards an election that is basically Bush III (Guiliani and the neocons) vs. Clinton II (Hillary). No wonder that a similar number are pessimistic about the future.
As for Congress we should be up in arms for term limits (been a long time since those words have been in the news). The old cronies who hold the party lines must go. And we also must prevent a revolving door with Defense and other government contractors. These incestous relationships with contractors and lobbyists have polluted the system and taken away the people's power.
The author appears to be saying we have lost the moderate voter. Voters need to start thinking and stop behaving like sheeple. America, "the idea" as Bono described it, is not yet dead.
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ETproductions1 year, 8 months ago
I'd see David Duke as a very poor candidate to use in defining any broad political movement within the US outside of his drive for segregation and racial purity. His KKK affiliation is well known. He has run as a Democrat, Republican and Populist.
There are many salient points that divide the two extremes, but security is probably the easiest to use as a litmus test. If you believe the USA is under the most severe threat we've ever faced and that that threat can only be met by preemptive invasions around the world and suspension of civil rights, constitutional protections and in some cases the rule of law, you just might be a right wingnut.
If, on the other hand, you believe the exact opposite -- that we should dismantle all nuclear weapons and that nearly all war is unjustified or can be solved through diplomacy, then you're probably still a wingnut but one with a left-hand thread.
What I'm saying is most people aren't wingnuts.
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jovial1 year, 8 months ago
Intellectual growth involves considering opposing ideas and opinions as well as challenging ideas in order to develop and elaborate a framework for understanding the world. -Joseph Mikels
As he goes on..
Thoroughly cultivating ideas often involves struggling and stumbling and occasional embarassment.
I am rewarded each time I present a story here on propeller when people present ideas and facts that are weren't previously known to me. This opportunity allows me to come up with new ideas, and I hope people are having the same experience. There is no way to do away with partisanship altogether, but I enjoy the opposing viewpoints as well as the assurances I receive when I voice my opinion. I've found a lot of friends here. Sometimes the discussions become quite lively, (sometimes too lively) but I always walk away knowing more than I did before. Yes, it would be a good thing if the citizens of this country would be more united on certain issues. (cont.)
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jovial1 year, 8 months ago
I also realize that we live in America, and to think that we will all be united on so many important issues that this country faces is probably not realistic. So we go on day after day, voicing our viewpoints with the hope that one day we can move on and become one voice that considers the needs of all Americans and the citizens of the world around us.
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Commodore11 year, 8 months ago
Yes, isn't it the ghastly truth. And I blame the dumbocrats for 95% of it. They started it all during the Reagan era. Then it was the Republicans nearly impeaching Bronco Bill and now it's the dems looking for revenge and making problems at every turn. Take down Kennedy, Pelosi, Boxer and Murtha and there would be fewer problems. If a real civil war starts in this country I know it will be the fault of the dems. They are in fact already attacking conservatives and trying to raid people's freedoms.
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joeblowe1 year, 8 months ago
This theme isn't going to be much of a surprise to anyone who has noticed how many votes in Congress fall strictly along party lines.
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RedstateLib1 year, 8 months ago
Okay we our all sick of the devisive nature of politics and feeling that our elected leaders are just milking us dry. I have an idea lets make Federal elected service like miltary service. Lets build them barracks style buildings to live in near DC(actually we could probably fix up some buildings a little at Walter Reed since it will be closing soon). Buses can carry them to and from the capitol and white house everyday. Just like the military you have to be there unless you have a doctors excuse. Let them use the same health care system that are enlisted soldiers do. Pay them about the same as miltary pay. Give them a curfew of 9 pm. They need a pass to leave base and any building or event with a lobbiest present is off limits. They get 1 mouth a year leave where they all go home and visit their home districts. If its good enough for those who volunteer to serve in the military it's good enough for those who "volunteer" to serve in Washington.
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RedstateLib1 year, 8 months ago
I do not know why propeller put this hear it should have been at the bottem of the thread.
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jovial1 year, 8 months ago
Another thing that might be being overlooked is the media and the internet. The driving influence for major changes in the U.S. have been driven by Television. Civil Rights in this country came about by people watching injustices being carried out on people of color around this country. If it were not for TV. Conditions for segregation might still be here today. Another example is the Vietnam war. I remember as a child watching Walter Cronkite, and his nightly report on the war. Did this influence opinion and influence the anti-war movement? I would say so. Now we have the Mass media. News can be downloaded onto your phone or your Ipod.
More of the nation is computer literate and the "blogosphere' has become extrememly important. News can spread across the world in minutes. YouTube captures politicians contradicting themselves on a daily basis. I think this important milestone in US history is a major factor.
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jimdoze1 year, 8 months ago
Here's a good start to rapprochement.
http://abcrad.vo.llnwd.net/o1/levin/rss/schumer...
I give Chuck Schumer a lot of credit for stating what I believe reasonable people know to be obvious.
Good post, DR!
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afoaf1 year, 8 months ago
The only reason that the left and right have been successful in this polarization is that they have a monopoly on political parties.
The entire electoral college system is arranged in such a way that a third party candidate can, almost without exception, never threaten the entrenched duopoly.
They just scoop up their respective majorities and quibble over those issue-driven people left in the middle that vote out of principle and not partisanship.
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Natureboy1 year, 8 months ago
"The only reason that the left and right have been successful in this polarization is that they have a monopoly on political parties."
Not so. The political parties are willing to pick up any ideological trappings which will win them support - and to drop those trappings the minute it becomes advantageous to do so. The political parties are really first and foremost about taking power and keeping it. To do so, they have both become bedpartners with big business, global corporations and the military/industrial complex. That is the defining reality for both parties. They will tell you what they need to tell you to get your vote, but the supposed ideological gulf between the two is about as meaningful as the "tastes great/less filling" controversy.
And having gotten your vote, they will serve themselves and their corporate masters, not you.
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cowboygrandpa1 year, 8 months ago
The leaders of the push had to wait because they knew the veterans of the war would warn and be vigilant. They would not let the stench of Hitlers dreams come to America and ruin it. Again we see the Bushes Pro Nazi leanings. Deny, deny, deny. Spin, spin, spin. Bush and Cheney represent the worst of this country. When over 65% of the populace are in agreement as to the foulness of his leadership you have problem. So go on and try to tell me how to think. You can't control me or my thoughts. I will not buckle under there bud. I want America back and if Bush and Cheyney have to go so be it. Your time in power is short now Ultra cons. I can feel the winds of change coming.
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Searchbeam1 year, 8 months ago
Bush/Cheney have taken our cpountry back to the B.C. period (Before Christ) - 2000 years back!
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Harbeas1 year, 8 months ago
I have urged the voters before to do away with these idiots. If our government can't do what is right for this country then we must change it by voting out all of the current politicians and replacing them. This bipartisanship crap is killing us. They just don't seem to be interested in doing the right thing for the country but what is right for them and their party. KICK THEM OUT OF OFFICE!
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jovial1 year, 8 months ago
(cont.)To make it not seem as bad as it really was reporters were only allowed to get information through government press releases. Journalists that entered the country without permission, did so with no U.S. protection, they could be killed by either side. After an exhaustive search for WMD turned up nothing, the reason changed to regime change and spreading democracy. Iraq was to be the democracy that all middle east countries envied. Then like dominoes they were to change their governments to be more like Iraq's. Putin remarked one time, "if that's an example of democracy, we'll take dictatorship instead" or something along those lines. Anyway more and more stories got out about tragedies that were happening in Iraq like Abu Ghairab, and Fallujah. For the first time Bush started to realize support for the war awas waning. Republicans running for their seats in 2006 started distancing themselves from the President. (cont.)
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jovial1 year, 8 months ago
The effort was too little too late. a lot of people broke from Republican ranks and voted Democrat. They were fed up with business as usual. So the Republican politicians and this president were responsible for some of the partisanship that we have today, but not all of it. It was the media, and us as well. Everyone deserves some of the blame.
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icono11 year, 8 months ago
Interesting read but to me it is the old divide and conquer strategy with the winner gaining political leverage which equals personal monetary gain via well used misinformation and spin doctoring.
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truthiness1 year, 8 months ago
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
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truthiness1 year, 8 months ago
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
George Washington's farewell address 1796
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truthiness1 year, 8 months ago
klarissa,
what do americans want changed?
-corruption without repercussion; eg abramoff went to jail for bribery but no one went to jail for receiving those bribes.
-the feeling that no matter what we say or do, the politcians will do what they want
-watching our money, resources and troops go overseas to rebuild other countries, while emergency situations here have no resources to provide aid
-having our politicians use the media to sell us fear so that they can gather more power to themselves illegally
-having politicians tell us there is no money for universal health insurance while they receive free health insurance
-having our politicians tell us they need to raise more taxes to pay for more crime enforcement laws to fix the old laws which werent working when the reason they werent working is because they werent enforced.
-politicians dividing their loyalties between nation and party
-a billion dollars spent on two years of campaigning while washington gets nothing done.
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kcmo501 year, 7 months ago
The left is still with us,its just not out in the open.
I have been watching this disaster as you all have as well,my Family was part of the great american disaster(the civile war) and was split down the middle. We even have two Family groups who just made up after all this time.
I am hopeing that the tital of this story is just that,another civil war would be the end of this place
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1-2-Oscar1 year, 8 months ago
I think that you have recognized an important point. Many Americans regard our nation and its form of government as an ongoing success story. But they DO want it to work better. When someone presents an idea for change which will have such a result, they'll buy into it.
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deathray1 year, 8 months ago
If you are saying that Americans like their way of life, I'd tend to agree. If you are saying that Americans like the direction in which the country is headed, I'll have to say that the polls I see are not consistent with your statement, and the American people want a change.
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