pianogonzology: polarized

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Worse. . .

. . . than it looks?. . . is that possible?. . .

(from It's Even Worse Than It Looks [How the American Constitutional System Collided With The New Politics of Extremism] by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein ©2012 Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein)
". . . The Problem is Mismatch
We believe a fundamental problem is the mismatch between parliamentary-style political parties-ideologically polarized, internally unified, vehemently oppositional, and politically strategic-that has emerged in recent years and a separation-of-powers system that makes it extremely difficult for majorities to work their will. Students of comparative politics have demonstrated that the American policy-making system of checks and balances and separation of powers has more structural impediments to action than an other major democracy. Now there are additional incentive for obstruction in that policy-making process. Witness the Republicans' immense electoral success in 2010 after voting in unison against virtually every Obama initiative and priority, and making each vote and enactment contentious and excruciating, followed by major efforts to delegitimize the result. And because of the partisan nature of much of the media and reflexive tendency of many in the mainstream press to use false equivalence to explain outcomes, it becomes much easier for a minority, in this case the Republicans, to use filibusters, holds, and other techniques to obstruct. The status quo bias of the constitutional system becomes magnified under dysfunction and creates a take-no-prisoners political dynamic that gives new meaning to the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan's concept of "defining deviancy down.". . . "