Is polarizing partisanship sinking America?
From The Economist:
In his farewell address in 1796, George Washington took aim at the dangers of “factionâ€â€”arguing that it distracts attention from important questions, weakens the government and “agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarmsâ€. But if anything this understates the dangers of today’s hyper-polarisation. Partisanship has embittered the 49% of the electorate who voted against Mr Bush. It has alienated the 45% of voters who described themselves as “moderateâ€. It has weakened the checks and balances built into Congress (the Senate, supposedly the more deliberative chamber, has not yet even got around to debating Mr Bush’s “surge†in Iraq). And it has made it impossible to deal with long-term problems, such as the budget deficit and Social Security reform, which require mutual sacrifices and complex deal-making.
This is particularly dangerous when it comes to foreign policy. The explosive divisions over the Iraq war have weakened Mr Bush, who might have corrected his strategy earlier if he had faced serious scrutiny from Congress. And they have certainly weakened America abroad. They not only signal to America’s enemies that the country is divided, but also suggest that policy might change dramatically with a new president. Hyper-power and hyper-partisanship make bad bedfellows.
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