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Cynthia Watson's avatar

Janet, your son noticed something significant. The unending partisanship was not a feature of our public service prior to the last 40 years. Professionalism was the ethos rather than trying to assure a partisan outcome which seems the norm now. Of course there ARE public servants, as we have discussed, who don't hue to nonpartisanship or who are incompetent or self-serving but it's the minority by far. interestingly Heather Cox Richardson made a somewhat similar observation last night by arguing that the Reagan moves against gov't were a back door way to protect one segment of our society at a high, high cost to others. Thank you for continuing to offer such pointed observations from your perch! Happy New Year!

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Jschmeling's avatar

Interesting observations. Clown show may be an understatement. Still, the seeds here go back to when the parties diverged from working to the benefit of the nation to the promotion of party over country. I don't pretend to know how that happened, but it feels like it happened around the Reagan presidency, reinforced by the Gingrich speakership, and the "Contract with America." Research on how members of Congress no longer crossed party lines for bi-partisan purposes goes back even a bit further. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/23/a-stunning-visualization-of-our-divided-congress/ is my favorite visualization of this separation. I heard rhetoric today about how the Republicans must save America from the Democrats. Really? I understand frustration with Democratic policy, regulatory policy, and so on from Republicans. But does the country need saving from that? Or does the country need saving from polarization? Because that's what I think is needed. Sigh.

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