How Do We Eradicate Partisanship From American Politics?

[JimBowie1958]

The zealots have to be marginalized, or nothing improves and the decay continues.

The problem is, they have most of the energy. They're the loudest. They're the most influential.

And maybe worst of all, their behavior appears to be spreading.
.

I dont think it is just a matter of 'zealotry' but of intolerance, irrationality and the willingness to sacrifice the rule of law to 'fix a bigger problem'.

Giving Hillary a pass for her violations of law regarding the storage of classified documents is as partisan and harmful to our Republic as demanding that an entire group of people lose their civil rights and be treated as secondary citizens.

When a group demands that their opposition should be assaulted in public meetings or private rallies, we have more partisanship.

When we have laws that allow the government to seize ones home and sell it to partisan hacks so they can subdivide it into commercial properties that encourages partisanship in order to protect ones property.

When we have the government allowed to revoke God given rights and play the tyrannical thug, partisanship becomes mandatory, as the game is then played for the ultimate stakes.

If you want to reduce partisanship then make all politicians vulnerable to the Will of the People by banning gerrymandering and corporate donations to these crony networks.

 

[Mac1958]

The zealots have to be marginalized, or nothing improves and the decay continues.

The problem is, they have most of the energy. They're the loudest. They're the most influential.

And maybe worst of all, their behavior appears to be spreading.
.

I dont think it is just a matter of 'zealotry' but of intolerance, irrationality and the willingness to sacrifice the rule of law to 'fix a bigger problem'.

Giving Hillary a pass for her violations of law regarding the storage of classified documents is as partisan and harmful to our Republic as demanding that an entire group of people lose their civil rights and be treated as secondary citizens.

When a group demands that their opposition should be assaulted in public meetings or private rallies, we have more partisanship.

When we have laws that allow the government to seize ones home and sell it to partisan hacks so they can subdivide it into commercial properties that encourages partisanship in order to protect ones property.

When we have the government allowed to revoke God given rights and play the tyrannical thug, partisanship becomes mandatory, as the game is then played for the ultimate stakes.

If you want to reduce partisanship then make all politicians vulnerable to the Will of the People by banning gerrymandering and corporate donations to these crony networks.

Interesting - while I also agree that we need to get money out of politics at every possible level, I'm not sure I see a straight line from partisanship to campaign finance. But your thought does have me wondering.

To me, this is more cultural, more behavioral, than structural. And to me, the most troubling aspect of it is that I'm seeing more and more people in business and social settings spouting off shallow, simplistic, boiler-plate partisan gibberish.

Having the nuts doing it, that's bad enough. But this really does appear to be spreading.
.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Interesting - while I also agree that we need to get money out of politics at every possible level, I'm not sure I see a straight line from partisanship to campaign finance. But your thought does have me wondering.

The corporate financing of re-election campaigns puts the politicians in the corporate pockets. To protect their man they use their influence among other bought politicians to gerrymander the mans seat to protect him from being defeated by an outraged public.

Also the partisanship is part of a ruse. At election time the politicians make promises and demonize their opponents using the worst hyperbole to scare their base from voting for any competitor promising to reform DC. So the extreme rhetoric is a function of distraction from and obscuring the facts during elections.

 

[Mac1958]

Interesting - while I also agree that we need to get money out of politics at every possible level, I'm not sure I see a straight line from partisanship to campaign finance. But your thought does have me wondering.

The corporate financing of re-election campaigns puts the politicians in the corporate pockets. To protect their man they use their influence among other bought politicians to gerrymander the mans seat to protect him from being defeated by an outraged public.

Also the partisanship is part of a ruse. At election time the politicians make promises and demonize their opponents using the worst hyperbole to scare their base from voting for any competitor promising to reform DC. So the extreme rhetoric is a function of distraction from and obscuring the facts during elections.

Yeah, good stuff, I can see that.

The way I look at it is that these people would clearly behave differently if they weren't having to worry about fundraising and re-election. Also, if they had term limits, they wouldn't be spending damn near half of every term running for office.

Toss the elements of partisanship into it, and you have a situation so distorted and mangled that I don't really see it resembling the intent of the system...
.

 

[Theowl32]

It is suppose to be partisan. Dumb ignorant left wingers. They do not want OPPOSING views. That is obvious.

You have any idea how arrogant the left are? They live in echo chambers. They have no clue what the world is about. They just want their safe spaces where everyone just agrees with them.

In their case, it is white right wing Christians that are to BLAME for EVERYTHING. It is that the globe is warming and only raising taxes and regulations on small businesses that will stop it.

The OP is a demented brainwashed puppet who has no clue how the democrats have used him and his people for political expediency. They have no idea that being patronized is racism. He has no clue that by being the perpetual VICTIM that his mind will never be free.

The democrats own them. Still.

 

[LoneLaugher]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

Crush the Left & Right wing of both parties, then you'll find bipartisanship.

The zealots have to be marginalized, or nothing improves and the decay continues.

The problem is, they have most of the energy. They're the loudest. They're the most influential.

And maybe worst of all, their behavior appears to be spreading.
.

You aren't wrong about the need to rid ourselves of the influence of zealots. You just have trouble identifying the zealots.

 

[JimBowie1958]

It is suppose to be partisan. Dumb ignorant left wingers. They do not want OPPOSING views. That is obvious.

You have any idea how arrogant the left are? They live in echo chambers. They have no clue what the world is about. They just want their safe spaces where everyone just agrees with them.

In their case, it is white right wing Christians that are to BLAME for EVERYTHING. It is that the globe is warming and only raising taxes and regulations on small businesses that will stop it.

The OP is a demented brainwashed puppet who has no clue how the democrats have used him and his people for political expediency. They have no idea that being patronized is racism. He has no clue that by being the perpetual VICTIM that his mind will never be free.

The democrats own them. Still.

Actually the Founding Fathers mostly opposed the idea of legal political parties, as I understand it.

And the tradition in which this was a successful friendly opposition system, was back when liberals and conservatives had a minimum of respect for each other that was the limit of tolerability and to go below that bar would get you ostracized as an 'extremist'.

But the Marxists and the conservatarians cant agree on the color of shyte any more so the nation becomes divided, the middle class gets repeatedly raped and the US loses influence and impact across the globe.

 

[Disir]

But the Marxists and the conservatarians cant agree on the color of shyte any more so the nation becomes divided, the middle class gets repeatedly raped and the US loses influence and impact across the globe.

Then you have to step back and look at who is keeping us divided. The only reason to keep us squabbling the bottom is so we don't pay attention to what is really going on. The less we let this shit divide us on the bottom the more we force those at the top to cut the shit.

 

[ChrisL]

Kill all the republicans and democrats? That would solve LOTS of problems.

 

[Unkotare]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.....

No, it is not "a known fact." It is a historically ignorant impression encouraged by an irresponsible media.

 

[Unkotare]

.....

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

We don't, we won't, we shouldn't.

 

[Unkotare]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

What a clumsy, transparent little ploy. "Oh, how can we get rid of partisanship! Boo-hoo!" But the entire post only lays blame on Republicans. Let's see, reflexively blaming one party and thus favoring another party...hmmm...what is the word for that...?

 

[CowboyTed]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

The first thing is in the way people vote. If you don't change that then you'll never get rid of the two parties controlling everything.

The Germans have a great system, it still leads to left v. right, however there's actual choice.

You can vote for the Conservative CDU/CSU or you can vote for the FPD or other parties. And you can do so knowing that 5% will get you members of parliament. Also there's a FPTP to complement the PR side to it, so in your area, if you vote for a guy, they become a member of parliament regardless of the PR vote.

This would lead to Americans feeling they can vote for whichever side they like. Because no party is going to get enough votes to form government on their own, so they have to form coalitions which them mean cooperation is needed and more sensible government.

For president a similar system to the French system where people can vote for whoever they like in the first round, and then choose between two in the final round.

However with the German system, this will open up other parties in the first place, so people are more likely to choose a different option for president anyway.

frigid,

Bang on... The voting style is obsolete... I personally a PR STV (Proportional Representation Single Transfer vote), I find it quick and fair..

Proportional Representation: It allows for multi seat constituencies, this makes gerrymandering and district drawing a lot harder to rig and impossible in a lot of cases.

Single Transfer Vote: This allows that you vote in accordance to your preference... ie. 1,2,3... for your 1st, 2nd, 3rd... preference candidate... Your vote will be transferred from candidates as they are eliminated to your next preference... So as long as you keep going down the card your vote will count to towards your favorite candidate who is still in...
This means you are going to vote for the candidate who closely matches your ideals not the one you think is going to get elected... Now a Tea Partier can vote for the Tea Party guy and put a GOP guy second... So when they starting counting the Tea Party guy might get eliminated but his voters votes don't...
The result is GOP guy and the Tea Party guy aren't trying to kick seven levels of crap out of each other, they want each others transfers...

This would engender multiple smaller parties (competition is good) who are more focused on achieving their objectives. The big tent thing is gone and parties are more transparent in their dealings (far from completely but you can see swaps more clearly than internal backscrathing)..

All this mean deals have to be made, no longer will the red and blue team thing become that massively important but who gets things done matters most...

But the big thing is this type of government or alternatives on the same theme is what is used by a vast majority of democracies and version of this was set up by US in Iraq...

 

[Iceweasel]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

The first thing is in the way people vote. If you don't change that then you'll never get rid of the two parties controlling everything.

The Germans have a great system, it still leads to left v. right, however there's actual choice.

You can vote for the Conservative CDU/CSU or you can vote for the FPD or other parties. And you can do so knowing that 5% will get you members of parliament. Also there's a FPTP to complement the PR side to it, so in your area, if you vote for a guy, they become a member of parliament regardless of the PR vote.

This would lead to Americans feeling they can vote for whichever side they like. Because no party is going to get enough votes to form government on their own, so they have to form coalitions which them mean cooperation is needed and more sensible government.

For president a similar system to the French system where people can vote for whoever they like in the first round, and then choose between two in the final round.

However with the German system, this will open up other parties in the first place, so people are more likely to choose a different option for president anyway.

frigid,

Bang on... The voting style is obsolete... I personally a PR STV (Proportional Representation Single Transfer vote), I find it quick and fair..

Proportional Representation: It allows for multi seat constituencies, this makes gerrymandering and district drawing a lot harder to rig and impossible in a lot of cases.

Single Transfer Vote: This allows that you vote in accordance to your preference... ie. 1,2,3... for your 1st, 2nd, 3rd... preference candidate... Your vote will be transferred from candidates as they are eliminated to your next preference... So as long as you keep going down the card your vote will count to towards your favorite candidate who is still in...
This means you are going to vote for the candidate who closely matches your ideals not the one you think is going to get elected... Now a Tea Partier can vote for the Tea Party guy and put a GOP guy second... So when they starting counting the Tea Party guy might get eliminated but his voters votes don't...
The result is GOP guy and the Tea Party guy aren't trying to kick seven levels of crap out of each other, they want each others transfers...

This would engender multiple smaller parties (competition is good) who are more focused on achieving their objectives. The big tent thing is gone and parties are more transparent in their dealings (far from completely but you can see swaps more clearly than internal backscrathing)..

All this mean deals have to be made, no longer will the red and blue team thing become that massively important but who gets things done matters most...

But the big thing is this type of government or alternatives on the same theme is what is used by a vast majority of democracies and version of this was set up by US in Iraq...

Hmmm, so you believe the European style multiple small party system gets more done with less bickering? I call bull. The two parties here make deals all the time, too often really. What we need to do is get rid of the riders placed on bills where it passes or fails based on who gets what special interest involved. Strict up or down voting on the issues, no pork.

As far as getting along the left doesn't like to compromise on shit, we reach harmony when we agree 100% with them. 99% is backwards and hateful.

 

[SwimExpert]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

Eradicate partisanship? Have you seen the current election cycle? The Democrats almost nominated someone who joined their party the week before. And the Republicans did nominate someone who just joined their party the week before. A bunch of nonsensical chaos has been ensuing in the meantime. I think we need to restore partisanship. Peasants are running the castles everywhere.

 

[Kondor3]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

you are making it sound like only republicans are partisan Marc....

I'm referring to the most current and/or most glaring case of it.

We all know both sides do it too.

Had your OP served-up an entirely neutral and objective perspective, you could have had a seat at the Bipartisan Table, but, you missed your opportunity.

 

[Iceweasel]

Peasants are running the castles everywhere.

That's the way it was supposed to be.

 

[Kondor3]

...Peasants are running the castles everywhere.

Peasants (The People) are the reason that parties, and government, exist in the first place.

To serve the Will of the People.

Both government and our political parties are the SERVANTS of The People.

The People are merely serving-up a reminder and 'market correction', to those who have long-since accorded themselves the power to speak on their behalf.

Stand with The People, or stand aside, or be swept aside.

 

[Disir]

Both government and our political parties are the SERVANTS of The People.

Yep. Not the other way around.

 

[MarcATL]

It's a known fact that the country has been steadily getting more and more partisan as far as politics are concerned.

Republicans are forever bemoaning that fact w/the meme "such and such is dividing", whenever referring to a Democrat politician of course.

Nevermind that Republicans vowed to not do anything that would benefit President Elect Obama on the night of his swearing in. They obstructed him at every turn, to the point that this has been the most do-nothing Congress since they've been keeping track of their approval rate, with percentages as low as 9% approval.

It's gotten to the point that it doesn't matter what the issue is, everything is seen through purely partisan political lenses, where "your guy" is the devil incarnate, and "my guy" can simply do no wrong. Leaving the American People suffering as the result.

So how do you propose we get rid of partisan politics and get down to the business of The People?

Anyone?

you are making it sound like only republicans are partisan Marc....

I'm referring to the most current and/or most glaring case of it.

We all know both sides do it too.

Obama's policies were a bridge to far for most Republicans ,not his color,was it good for the tax payer not at all.
Both parties are guilty,whos worse depends on the day.Obama wasn't the most humble winner didn't get things off on
a good note.
Trump is a result of Republicans cluster same with Sanders.

What policies exactly? Specifically BEFORE he actually took office.

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