"Bipartisanship is just another word for one party rule."

[MadHound]

I recently reread Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States", and that particular quote struck me hard, as a hard truth.

We have consistently seen, over the past half century, an increasing reliance upon getting a "bipartisan" consensus on issues. This trend truly picked up steam during the eighties, under Reagan. Essentially what we have seen is the 'Pugs stake out ever increasingly extreme positions, and in an effort to be "bipartisan" the Dems acquiesce to part or all of these positions. Not to mention the simple fact that on major issues of foreign policy, namely wars, Dems and 'Pugs go forth in near complete agreement. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, all of these and more have been launched with bipartisan support.

This sort of dynamic has led our country away from a robust debate over various issues, where each side stakes out their positions, towards an ever increasing slide to the right, a slide so far that now we see a Democratic administration whose policy positions are to the right of Eisenhower.

Are there still differences between the two parties, yes. But those differences have become increasingly small over the years, to the point now where the debate on issues such as Social Security and Medicare isn't whether to cut them or not, but rather just a degree of how much they are to be cut.

Bipartisanship is killing this country, it is indeed nothing more than another name for one party rule, and that one party is comprised of the rich and powerful elite. Our voices, the voices of the poor, the working class, is no longer heard or considered in this "bipartisan" government.

It is time for us to bury bipartisanship, and instead embrace true change, a government that listens to different voice, voices not compromised by the bipartisan manner of carrying out government. Otherwise, we will simply continue to suffer under one party rule, never a good thing.