How Do We Eradicate Partisanship From American Politics?

[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?

Don't you ever tire with the same Ole shtick
How about passing bills and working with both sides?

How about no ramming legislation or using courts to pass your priorities?

What's my "shtick?"

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[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?

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...

Not going to happen.

 

[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?

Don't you ever tire with the same Ole shtick
How about passing bills and working with both sides?

How about no ramming legislation or using courts to pass your priorities?

What's my "shtick?"

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Don't play coy.

 

[SwimExpert]

...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.

You're not understanding. An article was published this past week by The Atlantic. I'll see if I can find it again. The main premise is that our politics has gone into chaos because "we the people" have made it impossible for political leaders to actually lead. We've taken away all of their tools for doing so. And now the result is that our politicians are a collection of individuals who only follow their own interests.

The "peasants" I am referring to aren't "we the people." It's the incompetent, unqualified rabble of elected officials we have all over the country nowadays. It's people like Obama, Hillary, Trump, and Cruz. People who aren't suited to be anything more than a follower, but who are now free to nakedly pursue their personal self interests because we the people have made it impossible for true leaders to do what makes them effective.

 

[SwimExpert]

Peasants are running the castles everywhere.

That's the way it was supposed to be.

That is the mentality of a peasant who is jealous of those who are better situated than him.

 

[Iceweasel]

Peasants are running the castles everywhere.

That's the way it was supposed to be.

That is the mentality of a peasant who is jealous of those who are better situated than him.

You're a retard.

 

[Rocko]

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?

Hahaha you complain about partisanship and then proceed with a partisan rant.

 

[SwimExpert]

Peasants are running the castles everywhere.

That's the way it was supposed to be.

That is the mentality of a peasant who is jealous of those who are better situated than him.

You're a retard.

And you're a peasant.

 

[JBond]

Create term limits for Congress. Remove the people that have rigged the system and intentionally place Americans against each other for their own gain.

 

[daws101]

I've been thinking about this a lot and I really think that it comes down to reducing the number of representatives we have. Partisan politics have largely formed due to the power of groups in Congress...as Congress has gotten larger and larger the power of each individual has weakened while strength in groups has grown to the point where the individual has little to no say (esp in the House). Our first Congress was roughly 15% of the size our current Congress is. This allowed for each individual member to have a much stronger and more powerful voice. If you want to get rid of group think in Congress you have to increase the power of the individuals. However, that comes with obvious downsides if the wrong individuals are elected. It is a trade-off.

What you propose is about the dumbest fucking thing you could do. You want to concentrate all this power into the hands of LESS people?? You want to increase the size of their fiefdoms? The average member of the House represents approximately 700,000 people. How can one person effectively represent that many people? They can't. That's why Washington is so detached from the rest of the country. Have you ever tried getting a meeting with your Congressman? Good luck. It's hard to make time for 700,000 people, but it's easy to meet with lobbyists who are right over on K Street.

What we need is to double, if not triple the size of the House, one member of Congress representing 250,000 is going to be far more responsive to their constituents than one who is representing 700,000 and the power is spread out over many more people as opposed to being concentrated in the hands of an aristocratic few. It's also a lot harder for lobbyists to bribe 1300 members of the House than 435 and in fact, they don't even need to buy 435, just 50% of them plus one. Given the size of this country our Congress should look like the Republican Senate in Star Wars.

They should also spend more time at home and less time in Washington. With all the technology we have today why do they need to have a physical quorum in D.C. in order to hold a vote. Why can't we have a couple thousand representatives voting from their home districts? Wouldn't that make more sense?

New Hampshire is one of the smallest states in the country, yet it has over 400 members of its state legislature who get paid $200 a year and the state is run pretty damn well.

If your plan was adopted laws would take even longer to pass.
Would "the people" have 5 the patience to deal with a much slower system?

Why would it be slower?

1300 × 1 min is how many hours.
On any given day in the house it takes several hours just to get through the comments section before Any actual business is done.
That's why.

 

[daws101]

Partisanship is done and gone. We are two separate people with nothing in common.

Snicker!
Nothing in common ?
How about the language, the culture , food .
Walmart ?
You are a stupid bitch.

 

[Harry Dresden]

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.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

i dont think he was talking before he took office Marc,more like after in was in and started saying what he wanted to accomplish.....

 

[JBond]

Another thought is to repeal the 17th Amendment.

 

[Unkotare]

...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.

You're not understanding. An article was published this past week by The Atlantic. I'll see if I can find it again. The main premise is that our politics has gone into chaos because "we the people" have made it impossible for political leaders to actually lead. We've taken away all of their tools for doing so. And now the result is that our politicians are a collection of individuals who only follow their own interests.

The "peasants" I am referring to aren't "we the people." It's the incompetent, unqualified rabble of elected officials we have all over the country nowadays. It's people like Obama, Hillary, Trump, and Cruz. People who aren't suited to be anything more than a follower, but who are now free to nakedly pursue their personal self interests because we the people have made it impossible for true leaders to do what makes them effective.

It seems you don't understand what the word "peasant" means.

 

[SwimExpert]

...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.

You're not understanding. An article was published this past week by The Atlantic. I'll see if I can find it again. The main premise is that our politics has gone into chaos because "we the people" have made it impossible for political leaders to actually lead. We've taken away all of their tools for doing so. And now the result is that our politicians are a collection of individuals who only follow their own interests.

The "peasants" I am referring to aren't "we the people." It's the incompetent, unqualified rabble of elected officials we have all over the country nowadays. It's people like Obama, Hillary, Trump, and Cruz. People who aren't suited to be anything more than a follower, but who are now free to nakedly pursue their personal self interests because we the people have made it impossible for true leaders to do what makes them effective.

It seems you don't understand what the word "peasant" means.

Nor you the word "metaphor."

 

[frigidweirdo]

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...

I don't necessarily like STV because you're putting people into little communities again. If you're electing the whole of Congress, then the whole of the country should be in on it together, not different areas. The German system works really well. Simple is not necessarily the answer. However if you can't put two ticks in two different boxes on two pieces of paper, should you really be voting?

The problem with this one is that people end up putting one of the big people in 2nd place, and they still end up getting elected. Having smaller units just reduces smaller parties's chances of doing well.

Yes it's better than what already exists

Australian Senate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can see in the Aussie Senate there are 11 parties and independents. As opposed to 8 parties in the lower house and one less independent. (Which is Instant Runoff Voting Instant-runoff voting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Yes, PR prevents two parties being in control (hence why it'll never happen unless people start voting in 3rd party candidates into Congress) and makes it harder for the big money to know where to place their money to be really effective.

However what the German system does is realize the need to have constituency members looking after their membership. Those on lists are less likely to care, as they can get elected by being in the favor of the party, not in the favor of the PEOPLE.

Yes it has a list system, and all the trash end up on the list, but even with FPTP, trash get put on safe seats and all that nonsense. So, it'll never be perfect, but the German system seems to allow for more choice for the people, and more choice for the people means LESS POWER for those higher up.

 

[boedicca]

If we wish to retain a free society, there will always be partisanship. Freedom entails people with different agendas competing with each other.

Nonpartisanship is what Totalitarians promote: one must submit to the party.

 

[Unkotare]

...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.

You're not understanding. An article was published this past week by The Atlantic. I'll see if I can find it again. The main premise is that our politics has gone into chaos because "we the people" have made it impossible for political leaders to actually lead. We've taken away all of their tools for doing so. And now the result is that our politicians are a collection of individuals who only follow their own interests.

The "peasants" I am referring to aren't "we the people." It's the incompetent, unqualified rabble of elected officials we have all over the country nowadays. It's people like Obama, Hillary, Trump, and Cruz. People who aren't suited to be anything more than a follower, but who are now free to nakedly pursue their personal self interests because we the people have made it impossible for true leaders to do what makes them effective.

It seems you don't understand what the word "peasant" means.

Nor you the word "metaphor."

I know it very well. That's not what you employed. Stop making excuses.

 

[JoeNormal]

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?

Eliminate the ridiculous and antiquated electoral college. Give people the opportunity to vote FOR a candidate rather than AGAINST them.

 

[boedicca]

Partisanship is done and gone. We are two separate people with nothing in common.

Snicker!
Nothing in common ?
How about the language, the culture , food .
Walmart ?
You are a stupid bitch.

Yes, we have become two separate people: Civilized Folks and Vulgar Cretins such as you.