On Thursday, Rep. Eric Cantor pulled out of budget talks led by Vice Pres. Joe Biden. In doing so, Cantor announced that negotiations had reached an impasse over tax increases. Basically, the Republicans in the House don’t want them, so they couldn’t be passed in that chamber. And Senate Democrats do want them, so they…
Partisanship
Our Lost Faith in Professionals
Lately, it seems that every profession is under serious attack. Of course, lawyers have long been the butt of jokes. But now teachers are portrayed as leeches sucking the taxpayers dry, protecting their cushy jobs at all costs, and failing our children. Everyone seems to openly scoff at the idea that government “experts” know anything…
Pew Typologies, part 2
(This is an addition to the previous post, which I suggest you read first.) Some of the most important findings of the Pew typologies concern the growing number of non-partisan voters. This group (people who actually vote but don’t self-identify with either party) has grown substantially in recent years (from 30% to 37% since 2005)….
The Impact of Polarization
A passionate moderate politics isn’t just about promoting moderate policy outcomes. It is more fundamentally about moving beyond the current polarized political environment so we can make productive changes for the benefit of our nation, whether those changes are liberal, conservative, or centrist. When the system itself is broken (or at least severely ailing), individual…