Three cheers for partisanship
Over at No Left Turns, our friend Steve Hayward reflects on the "rhetoric of the moment" following the election:
All of this talk about "bipartisanship," "working together," and "reaching across the aisle" has made me want to reach for my airsick bag, except that the chances of such nonsense actually occurring in in inverse proportion to the rhetoric of the moment. Remember the old joke: there are two parties in America--the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. And when the two parties get together and do somethine really stupid and evil, it’s called "bipartisanship." What’s going on right now is fairly understandable: a chastened Bush, and emboldened Democrats, are talking nice to get pole position with the public. Not to worry; they won’t be singing Kumbaya for very long.Please read the whole thing.Let’s offer here not one, not two, but three cheers for partisanship...
JOHN adds: For an excellent response, see Alden's post in the Power Line Forum. It's well worth reading whether you agree with it or not. It begins:
As a resolute bipartisan moderate, I would say the following. First, partisans overestimate the difference between the parties. Both tend toward the same ills once they hold power (which I won’t bother to catalog because they’re obvious to any intelligent observer). Second, partisans underestimate the force of history: much of what happens in the world will happen no matter who is power. The difference of a couple dozen seats in the House, or of one or two seats in the Senate, is less consequential than either Republicans or Democrats want to think it is at the moment.
