According to The Washington Post, the Young Democrats want change.
One of their articles mentions how “a new class of junior lawmakers is exerting its influence by challenging the chamber’s sacred traditions and the partisan, top-down governing style that has marked the past two years.”
“The young Democrats, many of whom will be on the ballot in 2012, reject the view that the Senate must move at a glacial pace that only its most senior members get to determine the policy agenda, and that bipartisanship has become the purview of the naive and nostalgic.”
It’s nice there are some politicians who think there’s hope for partisanship and change in our government. If only there was any possibility of this change actually happening. As long as these Democrats don’t let these beliefs interfere too much with their jobs they’ll be fine. Too bad they probably will.
If that happens, the Democrats will just fracture further. So instead of trying to create change and partisanship where it cannot exist, focusing that hope and youthful energy into effective policy making might be a better idea.
I’m not saying change or partisanship is bad, just that neither is likely to happen after the results of this year’s elections. Wasting time and energy on it is not a good thing to do when the Republicans have gained the House and are poised to gain more support, making them arrogant and unwilling to cooperate.
Eventually their failings will become clear and they will lose their majority, and then the Democrats can work for change. They will undoubtedly fail because of infighting and partisanship. The delightful cycle will continue until the Final Trump or the robot revolution. My point is: Don’t worry about fixing the broken system. Instead, use those breaks to get things done.
If these young Democrats can focus on using the flaws of the system with the same gusto as the Republicans, they can get reform and change done without the partisanship.
Honestly, bipartisanship is a nice idea, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.
The last thing Congress seriously agreed on was declaring war against Japan. Besides, if it uses the flaws of the system for reform and change, partisanship might follow. However it will be limited, and it probably always will.
Mass cooperation between the Democrats and Republicans is at best a fantasy, at worse a fatal flaw in political planning. The best that can be hoped for is a small minority of either party working with the other one. This has happened, notably during the healthcare reform.
If the groups involved in partisanship can become bigger, that’s probably the best for which anyone can hope. Hope for the future lies not just in young politicians replacing those whom have failed or even on old ones replacing those who have failed. Cooperation is also important, and hopefully it can be achieved, no matter in how small a way.
