Just came across this post from E.J. Dionne "Mindful Partisanship" on The Moderate Voice:
The point is not that Republicans are heartless and Democrats are compassionate. It’s that Democrats on the whole believe in using government to correct the inequities and inefficiencies the market creates, while Republicans on the whole think market outcomes are almost always better than anything government can produce.
That’s not cheap partisanship. It’s a fundamental divide. The paradox is that our understanding of politics would be more realistic if we were less cynical and came to see the battle for what it really is.Yes, the country is divided. Yes, it's a two-party system. Yes, there's a difference between the two major parties. My objection to partisanship isn't that it's mindless, quite the contrary -- it's very very mindful! Partisans miss the fact that so many Americans are getting turned off by partisanship for that very reason. And speaking of which, here's Jackie Salit and Fred Newman on "Broken Government, Unscientific Psychology" in last week's Talk Talk:
Salit: Then we watched a discussion on CNN about the Conservative Political Action Committee meetings. They’re doing their thing. There’s a parade of presidential wannabes and leading lights, including Dick Cheney. John Avlon, CNN commentator and author who is an independent, said that the conservatives and the Republican Party need to be careful here. They can build a bridge to independents on fiscal conservatism and, insofar as that’s their rhetoric, they will connect with independents. But if they go beyond that, in his words, ‘If they go to making this a battle with socialism, independents won’t buy that.’ That will be a bridge too far in terms of trying to coalesce with independents.
Newman: I was telling you about Pat Choate’s new book “Saving Capitalism” where he says that insofar as the central ideological battle between conservatives and liberals is framed as a battle between capitalism and socialism, the fight is badly framed. Because it’s not really a fight between capitalism and socialism. It’s a fight, as he says – and I think he’s fundamentally correct about this – between state capitalism and free market capitalism. But I don’t think it’s seen that way, by and large.Here are the news headlines for independent voters from across the nation:
OPEN PRIMARIES
- Partisanship in politics has gone too far (LETTER Statesman Journal)
- Florida Governor candidate Peter Allen questions future of campaign (Lake County Elections 2010 Examiner, W. Scott Bowlin) Allen has laid out a campaign that is based largely on term limits for current officeholders, ending Florida's closed primary system, as well as standard tax issues and criminal justice system flaws.
- Voters switching their allegiances (By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE and BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, Washington Daily News) The state GOP backed away from the proposal to close its primaries for fear that it might alienate voters who could be useful to them in the general election.
TEA PARTY
- Fisher Ahead In Ohio Dem Primary, But Trails Portman (Quinnipiac University Poll) -- Tea Party Scores Better Than Dems, GOP -- But voters have a 32 - 23 percent favorable opinion of the Tea Party movement, with 43 percent who haven't heard enough about it to form an opinion. Democrats view the Tea Party unfavorably by 42 - 7 percent, while Republicans are favorable 53 - 8 percent and independent voters like it 36 - 20 percent. Men like the Tea Party 40 - 25 percent, while women like it 25 - 22 percent.
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