Poll of the Day > In all honesty, how do you feel about bipartisanship?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Personally, I believe that more politicians should be bipartisan. More politicians should be willing to meet in the middle and make compromises so that both parties benefit, instead of just one. It goes without saying that with a two-party system, the likelihood of everything working out peacefully is near-improbable as both parties are agenda-driven - which isn't a bad thing at all. There are many issues that both sides are polar opposites on, such as health care, gun control, abortion legality, immigration, and education reform in which it's hard to find a common ground for both Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives.

Ideally, it'd be a relief to see the day in which both sides work together instead of against each other to find a way to solve issues so that, while it's not perfect for all citizens, it's good enough.

Whomever people choose to have consensual sex with is none of my concern, honestly.
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When DC Republicans and Democrats agree, it's usually terrible.

When voters agree on something, DC politicians call it radical.

https://imgur.com/uOf2EM4
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Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!

There isn't always a middle ground.
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I like bipartisanship more in theory than in practice. Instead of getting the best of both worlds, usually it's either the slop of compromise or trading for concessions on an unrelated subject.

Golden Road posted...

There isn't always a middle ground.

Which is the real problem in many cases, especially because the vast majority of necessary legislation was handed ages ago.
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Lokarin posted...

https://imgur.com/uOf2EM4

My mind is blown.
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It works sometimes when both sides are rational and well intentioned.

Sadly, one of the two sides is republicans, so it's doomed from the start. They used to be a sane party, but gradually shifted further and further to the fringe right, to the point that many moderate Republicans left or were forced out and in some cases even became Democrats, since they're now the center right party.

When we do get bipartisan bills now, it's almost always terrible. Like the last tax reform bill.
Democrats liked avoiding making any cuts to entitlements. Republicans liked getting lower taxes for billionaires.
Both mean our debt is going to explode, but hey! Both sides got what they wanted!

Im all for it, especially since when you look at so many issues both the left and the right are making valid points that dont contradict each other, but because of the way our system is set up they act like it has to be one or the other
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Bipartisanship only works if you have an electoral system that will support it.

First-past-the-post is a notoriously partisan system, which is one of the many reasons why it is so terrible. It implicitly supports a two-party system and thereby breeds hyperpartisanship (which is why, even in countries that use FPTP and have more than two parties, there are typically only two dominant ones at any one time). It's also excessively vulnerable to gerrymandering, which tends to produce extremist candidates.

Proportional systems, on the other hand, are much better for cooperation, because seldom does any single party gain enough support to rule without the consent of others.
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Not always possible and usually results in watered down results that suck for everyone.
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streamofthesky posted...

When we do get bipartisan bills now, it's almost always terrible. Like the last tax reform bill.
Democrats liked avoiding making any cuts to entitlements. Republicans liked getting lower taxes for billionaires.
Both mean our debt is going to explode, but hey! Both sides got what they wanted!

The idea is less taxes, more citizen spending, better economy, less need to borrow money from other countries. Whether or not that works...

It's like saying communism can work as long as a large majority of people are selfless.

As in, it doesn't, because people are mostly inherently selfish.

Most politicians are politicians as a job, not as a passion, and cooperating with the other party is bad for your career when you can't claim credit for things because "everyone was just working together".

There is also the issue of the corporations that fund politicians having their own interests, and they want to get their money's worth by having the party they fund to have more influence than the other party, so they can have more influence.

Given, it's not like the system is efficient when the parties are presenting a fictional black and white scenario and fighting with each other either, I'm just explaining why mass bipartisanship hasn't happened.
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Lokarin posted...

https://imgur.com/uOf2EM4

You keep posting that or something similar to it, but it's pretty much bullshit.

streamofthesky posted...

Sadly, one of the two sides is republicans, so it's doomed from the start.

Which is emblematic of the whole "It's not us, it's them!" mindset. Guys like stream are why partisan politics exist.

streamofthesky posted...

They used to be a sane party, but gradually shifted further and further to the fringe right, to the point that many moderate Republicans left or were forced out and in some cases even became Democrats, since they're now the center right party.

A preposterous claim considering that Democrats are more liberal today than they were 50 years ago (although partly due to the rise of fringe leftist factions who, unlike the fringe right, seem to enjoy more widespread support within the party-- although that's rapidly changing as the establishment starts to recognize their threat). As for the Republicans, they're a mix of everything although they're collectively probably closer to the center than Democrats.

streamofthesky posted...

When we do get bipartisan bills now, it's almost always terrible. Like the last tax reform bill.
Democrats liked avoiding making any cuts to entitlements. Republicans liked getting lower taxes for billionaires.
Both mean our debt is going to explode, but hey! Both sides got what they wanted!

The theory is that if you lower the taxes, there will be spending cuts down the road. However, politics going back at least to FDR (and perhaps most specifically Social Security) has long been a system of "pass the bill down the road" so debt isn't taken seriously and, honestly, probably hasn't been taken seriously since Andrew Jackson left office.
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when repubs do it good
when dems do it bad

Bipartisanship implies a two party system, which I oppose. I am against the concept of political parties to start.

Also it seems politicians never seem to come together for things that the majority of americans support, like legalizing cannabis, but they can generally come together to steal from citizens, such as the bipartisan military spending increase.
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I think the two-party system is a fucking joke, so...
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Far-Queue posted...

Whomever people choose to have consensual sex with is none of my concern, honestly.

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Zeus posted...

Lokarin posted...

https://imgur.com/uOf2EM4

You keep posting that or something similar to it, but it's pretty much bulls***.

It's sourced from

https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2016
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Sounds like filthy neutral talk.

Gunna refute the source or just say I never provide sources next time, again.
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The thing about bipartisanship is that maybe it ends up maintaining status quo.
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jramirez23 posted...

The thing about bipartisanship is that maybe it ends up maintaining status quo.

Sometimes the status quo only seems so awful until you see what replaces it
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