20060913 KDDC An outbreak of bi-partisanship?

An outbreak of bi-partisanship?

Posted by Kevin Dayhoff September 13^th, 2006

My latest post is up on The Tentacle. It is titled, “Fenno’s Concept.”

Fenno’s Paradox is a political theorem was taught to me by Dr. Herb Smith, the preeminent professor of political science at McDaniel College, for whom I am gratefully indebted.

Gratefully indebted for not only teaching me Fenno’s Paradox, but many other concepts and approaches to the study of politics, which I use everyday.

I struggled with the column that I just put up on The Tentacle. It has been in my head for many weeks and then after reading some old lecture notes from one of Dr. Smith’s classes – it gelled together.

The after I filed the piece, I noticed that this has been on the minds of several other folks. I only wish that I had seen their pieces before I struggled so hard with my column…

Ronald Brownstein writes in his Los Angeles Times column, “Washington Outlook,” on September 10^th, 2006, a piece called “'06 Campaign Cry: Public First, Party Second.”

He begins his column by saying:

“As campaign 2006 heats up, the first important new theme of the 2008 presidential election may be emerging.

From Washington state to Maryland, candidates in both parties are running against the relentless partisan conflict that now defines life in the nation's capital. In an era when party-line voting in Congress has reached the highest level, by some measures, since the 1890s, a growing number of office-seekers are pledging to operate as an independent voice and a bridge between the parties if voters give them a ticket to Capitol Hill. In the process, they are honing arguments likely to be common in the race to succeed President Bush.”

You can read the rest of his piece here.

I’d love to refresh my memory a bit about the dynamics of the 1890s that had precipitated so much party-line voting... But ya know, perhaps we just need Gazette columnist Mr. Blair Lee to tell us. He usually knows that kind of stuff right off the top of his head.

However, Jonathan Singer, writing on My Direct Democracy on Sunday September 10th, 2006, is not so sure that he agrees that there is an outbreak of bi-partisanship in the near future.

Mr. Singer suggests that columnist like me; who advocate, hope, predict or otherwise think we are seeing some growing signs that an outbreak of bi-partisanship, are to be disregarded. And he states his case well. You can read his post here.

He begins his piece, “A New Era in Bipartisanship in the Offing?” by saying:

“In today's issue of the Los Angeles Times, Ron Brownstein takes a look at the current political climate and surmises that the path to victory in 2008 will be bipartisanship and independence.”

But it is a later paragraph that is of note:

“This seems like an awfully large stretch to me. A handful of candidates, many of whom have a long track record of extreme partisanship, profess their independence and voila, that's going to be the ticket to success in two years?”

He concludes his column by saying:

“Every four years we hear the same Beltway crowd clamoring for presidential candidates above the partisan fray. But until I see any indication that voters are interested in candidates who are actually independent of the normal ideological and partisan template rather than candidates who just claim to be so, I think it's best to just disregard these pundits.”

As I said, he makes a good case. You may read his entire post here.

The last Sunday, Mr. Jim Lee, the Editor of the Carroll County Times wrote a similar column called, “People over party.” Or rather Mr. Lee feels a need for bi-partisanship…

His column begins:

“With all the griping I hear from people about politics, politicians and political hopefuls, I'm amazed that more people aren't more informed about their government or how it works.

I've babbled on for years about how the two main political parties are destroying the country.

If you are politically involved, as a general rule you either have to follow in lockstep with whatever the party leadership says or you get ostracized.

I blame the parties, but the media is also to blame.

We're the ones who are always trying to show all sides to a given issue, so we're always looking for people expressing differing opinions.”

You can read the rest of his column here.

After I had a chance to graze through my files a bit - - and do some file maintenance, I notice that this is not the first time Mr. Lee has advocated a bit more bi-partisanship in governance. On April 10^th, 2004, he wrote a column called, “Parties hurt politics.”

He began that column aggressively. He states:

“America would be a lot better off if we did away with the Democratic and Republican parties, which increasingly are at the root of why problems never seem to get resolved.

The information age has resulted in more people being more informed about issues. And while there are some people who swear by the tenets of the major parties, many more people tend to grocery shop, picking and choosing whom they will stand by after examining each issue.

For any basic ideal, there is a small group at the extreme who preach 100 percent support, and an equally small group at the other extreme who preach 100 percent opposition. But there is a vast majority in the middle who want an honest and open look at the issue and who want to decide based on what is best.”

He concludes by saying:

“The major parties will be at each other's throats until the election. After that, stalemates in Washington and in Annapolis will continue as the parties look only to strengthen their own hold on American politics at the expense of the people.

They have proven their only interest is in preserving themselves. As such, it's time to do away with them, before they destroy this country we worked so hard to create.”

Unfortunately, I have no link to this column easily available. I wish that the Carroll County Times would archive their columns at least… Actually I wish that Carroll County Times would archive with permalinks their articles and columns. I have followed Mr. Lee’s columns for many years and consistently get value out of them…

Oh well, I’ve never had any trouble getting this site to do what I would like it to do… LOL

Whadda you think about bi-partisanship on the horizon?

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org www.thetentacle.com Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report www.thewestminstereagle.com www.kevindayhoff.com