I agree with Afchic that the federal government works best when led from the middle. But I wonder if, after the rhetorical carnage of the past twenty years (starting with Judge Bork's confirmation hearings) can either party afford to make that step towards defining and focusing on the common ground? I believe that 2000 election and 9/11 were missed opportunities in this regard and that the current economic crisis is becoming one as well.
[One small point. If I recall correctly, the framers held parties to be detrimental to effective government. James Madison expressed this view in
Federalist #10. The framers intent was for members of Congress to be educated land owning men who were disinterested (unbiased) in their deliberation of policy issues.*]
Quote:
Originally Posted by afchic
I have to agree with you all that said split government is not the way to go. But the reason behind my previous comment was that if you have Obama in office with Pelosi as the leader in the House, and Reid in the Senate, it is a scary proposition in my opinion. They are all so far left that they don't care that a majority of Americans (even other democrats) don't see their point of view being the correct one. This could be flipped on the Republicans as well.
The framers built our Constitution to have a friction between the executive branch and the legislative branch, regardless of which party any of them are in. We have lost that, in my opinion, and it is now a friction between parties, and if a single party gets all the power in this environment, the vision of the framers is lost. Do you honestly think Reid or Pelosi will step in to stop the power grab of an executive Branch lead by Obama, or will the more likely scenario be "the Republicans have stuck it to us for the past 8 years, so now we are going to get them back in spades?"
In my opinion we should not be leading by the extremes of either party, but on a preponderance of issues it should be from left of center/right of center depending on your party views. In my estimation I find the far right wing people to be just as disturbing as the far left.
When moderates in both parties become such a minority that their views are no longer heard anymore, we have a problem.
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* This point is developed in Gordon Wood, "Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution" in Edward C. Carter,
Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987).