There has be a paradigm shift in the way Washington works since 1994. Newt Gingrich campaigned on a platform that promised to change the Republican party from one where it was possible to get along with democrats to one that opposed every single bill, vote, or issue that a democrat proposed. There used to be standards of conduct in Congress, such as a taboo on using the filibuster or blocking a nomination. When someone did one of these two things they were considered to be quite the tool. This code of conduct has obviously failed. Congress was designed by men who thought a gentlemanly code of conduct would persist forever, but we are now seeing a Congress inhabited by people bent on manipulating the system to for their own benefit. Nothing can get done in Congress any longer due to the vitriol being slung by both sides. This era of hyper-partisanship will probably continue until there is some monumental crises that requires cooperation and when that happens there will only be two options: cooperate or have the country fall apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment