The Higher Learning. Political polarization is one of the most dangerous problems facing the United States today.
Politicians are no longer celebrated for their ability to compromise; instead, they are criticized for being weak or disloyal when they try to find middle ground or (God forbid) change their stance on an issue after learning new information. As a result, the majority of votes in Congress go along party lines, with nearly all the Democrats voting one way and nearly all the Republicans voting the other way.
To go against your party in votes like this has become one of the cardinal sins of modern-day politics. In a recently published study, a team of researchers used politician’s voting records to create a stunning visualization of the rise of political polarization in Congress – check it out. Clio Andris, David Lee, Marcus J. Our Lives are Hell. I spoke with ninety members of the House and Senate about what's gone so wrong in Congress.
Sometimes it got a little emotional. "I didn't get elected to Congress to not get things done—most people here want to get things done. I didn't get elected to Congress to make meaningless speeches on C-SPAN and tell lies about people. I didn't get elected to Congress to scare the hell out of the country and drive the sides further apart. I didn't get elected to Congress because I love politics—I hate politics, to be perfectly honest, and if I didn't before I got here, I do now… . " The man is very angry, about the way his life is going, about Washington, about some things he has found himself saying that he wishes he could take back—he got carried away, total herd mentality, just so juvenile. Barone: States choose own paths with one-party governments. In Washington, Americans have two-party government, with a Democratic president and Senate and a Republican House.
We had it before November's election and will have it again for the next two years. Looking back from 2014, we will have had two-party government for most of the preceding two decades, for six years of Bill Clinton's presidency, three and a half years of George W. Bush's and four years of Barack Obama's. But in most of the 50 states, American voters seem to have opted for something very much like one-party government. Starting next month, Americans in 25 states will have Republican governors and Republicans in control of both houses of the state legislatures. At the same time, Americans in 15 states will have Democratic governors and Democrats in control of both houses of the state legislatures.
That leaves only 10 percent in states in which neither party is in control. The Republican edge is largely a result of the Republican trend in 2009 and 2010. How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans - Magazine. Topos Graphics Angry and frustrated, American voters went to the polls in November 2010 to “take back” their country.
Just as they had done in 2008. And 2006. And repeatedly for decades, whether it was Republicans or Democrats from whom they were taking the country back. Is partisanship really the problem? By Chuck Raasch, Gannett National Writer WASHINGTON — Maybe governors shouldn't become senators.
In what has become a familiar ritual in this city, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., decried the partisanship in Congress, regretted the policy failures he said were victims of it, and quit. "I'm an executive at heart," he said, complaining about "too much partisanship and not enough progress. " Then he gave his 11-month notice. Another ex-governor turned senator, Delaware Democrat Tom Carper, was sympathetic and not surprised.
"He's one of, like me, a recovering governor," Carper told Gannett. Overhauling Congress: Taking It Back To Formula. Hide captionCongressmen walk down the steps of the House of Representatives as they work overnight on a spending bill in February.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP Congressmen walk down the steps of the House of Representatives as they work overnight on a spending bill in February. One late January night in 1966, President Johnson went to the Capitol to deliver the annual State of the Union address. The Wrong Side Absolutely Must Not Win. The past several weeks have made one thing crystal-clear: Our country faces unmitigated disaster if the Other Side wins.
No reasonably intelligent person can deny this. All you have to do is look at the way the Other Side has been running its campaign. Instead of focusing on the big issues that are important to the American People, it has fired a relentlessly negative barrage of distortions, misrepresentations, and flat-out lies. Just look at the Other Side’s latest commercial, which take a perfectly reasonable statement by the candidate for My Side completely out of context to make it seem as if he is saying something nefarious. This just shows you how desperate the Other Side is and how willing it is to mislead the American People.
The Other Side also has been hammering away at My Side to release certain documents that have nothing to do with anything, and making all sorts of outrageous accusations about what might be in them.