“Bipartisanship” Hides the Real Power Equation That No One Talks About
David Sirota
Here’s a very simple question to ponder: is the real problem afflicting our
political system a lack of so-called “bipartisanship” or is it actually too
much bipartisanship?
I ask this question honestly, because it seems to me that
congressional Democrats believe that, above all, their mandate is to
be more “bipartisan.” Out of all the messages coming from them and
the professisonal political elite in Washington (the Serious People
as many call them), the call for more “bipartisanship” seems the most
crisp. Summing up this call from other Democrats quite succinctly,
Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi said, “The American people voted for a new
direction to restore stability and bipartisanship to Washington, D.C.”
I’ll admit, that feels soothing for a few minutes. Yes, yes, wouldn’t
we all like to go back to that era that actually never occurred to
frolick happily through the fields of bipartisanship that never
existed. But like the cheap massage chairs you can test out at the
mall, the soothing quickly becomes a painful digging and scratching,
which is why you don’t buy the chair, why we shouldn’t buy all this
rhetoric about a need for more “bipartisanship,” and why only a fool
whose brain has rotted from Potomac Fever would actually believe that
a country under severe economic distress in a neverending quagmire in
Iraq walked into the ballot box and voted primarily on a desire to
see Mitch McConnell hug Harry Reid.
Anyone who spends 5 minutes around the halls of power in the nation’s
capital knows that Washington is dominated by one party: The Money
Party, and that the People Party is far outnumbered - even after this
election. Look no further than votes on the bankruptcy bill, the
energy bill, the class action bill, China PNTR and NAFTA to figure
out which politicans who call themselves Republicans and Democrats
actually belong to the Money Party and which politicians actually
belong to the People Party. The Establishment pretends this paradigm
doesn’t exist - they need the drama of Democrats vs. Republicans to
sell newspapers, and more importantly, hiding the existence of the
real power equation is in the interest of all the major for-profit
corporations that own the media.
Let’s also be honest - this Kabuki Theater is sometimes reinforced by
the Netroots and by self-described “progressive” institutions in
Washington. There are various reasons for this. Sometimes its just
easier to pretend that life is a cartoonish struggle between Blue and
Red, with Blue always being Moral and Just, and Red always being
Evil. Other times, it is a matter of financial pressures - some of
the self-anointed progressive leaders and institutions in Washington
are actually very much a part of the Money Party, both in terms of
thier funding and their ideology.
What this election really was was a surge for the People Party,
because so many candidates were elected on anti-Money Party themes
(opposition to pay-to-play corruption, opposition to lobbyist-written
trade pacts, etc.). This explains why in the election’s aftermath we
hear such repetitive calls for “bipartisanship”: they are really
repetitive and not-so-hidden attempts to make sure the Money Party
that includes both Republicans and Democrats remains dominant and
that the election’s mandate is ignored. The thing they really do not
want is for the People Party to assert itself against the Money Party.
I hope when Pelosi and other Democrats talk about “bipartisanship”
they understand the real partisan divide in Washington, and will use
their power to build coalitions of Republicans and Democrats to push
the People Party’s agenda. Because doing the opposite - solidifying
coalitions of Republicans and Democrats to continue pushing the Money
Party’s agenda - is not the “bipartisanship” this country wants or
deserves.
To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, I would remind progressives that
partisanship in the defense of regular people is no vice, and
Washington’s faux bipartisanship in the pursuit of selling out is no
virtue.
David Sirota
Here’s a very simple question to ponder: is the real problem afflicting our
political system a lack of so-called “bipartisanship” or is it actually too
much bipartisanship?
I ask this question honestly, because it seems to me that
congressional Democrats believe that, above all, their mandate is to
be more “bipartisan.” Out of all the messages coming from them and
the professisonal political elite in Washington (the Serious People
as many call them), the call for more “bipartisanship” seems the most
crisp. Summing up this call from other Democrats quite succinctly,
Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi said, “The American people voted for a new
direction to restore stability and bipartisanship to Washington, D.C.”
I’ll admit, that feels soothing for a few minutes. Yes, yes, wouldn’t
we all like to go back to that era that actually never occurred to
frolick happily through the fields of bipartisanship that never
existed. But like the cheap massage chairs you can test out at the
mall, the soothing quickly becomes a painful digging and scratching,
which is why you don’t buy the chair, why we shouldn’t buy all this
rhetoric about a need for more “bipartisanship,” and why only a fool
whose brain has rotted from Potomac Fever would actually believe that
a country under severe economic distress in a neverending quagmire in
Iraq walked into the ballot box and voted primarily on a desire to
see Mitch McConnell hug Harry Reid.
Anyone who spends 5 minutes around the halls of power in the nation’s
capital knows that Washington is dominated by one party: The Money
Party, and that the People Party is far outnumbered - even after this
election. Look no further than votes on the bankruptcy bill, the
energy bill, the class action bill, China PNTR and NAFTA to figure
out which politicans who call themselves Republicans and Democrats
actually belong to the Money Party and which politicians actually
belong to the People Party. The Establishment pretends this paradigm
doesn’t exist - they need the drama of Democrats vs. Republicans to
sell newspapers, and more importantly, hiding the existence of the
real power equation is in the interest of all the major for-profit
corporations that own the media.
Let’s also be honest - this Kabuki Theater is sometimes reinforced by
the Netroots and by self-described “progressive” institutions in
Washington. There are various reasons for this. Sometimes its just
easier to pretend that life is a cartoonish struggle between Blue and
Red, with Blue always being Moral and Just, and Red always being
Evil. Other times, it is a matter of financial pressures - some of
the self-anointed progressive leaders and institutions in Washington
are actually very much a part of the Money Party, both in terms of
thier funding and their ideology.
What this election really was was a surge for the People Party,
because so many candidates were elected on anti-Money Party themes
(opposition to pay-to-play corruption, opposition to lobbyist-written
trade pacts, etc.). This explains why in the election’s aftermath we
hear such repetitive calls for “bipartisanship”: they are really
repetitive and not-so-hidden attempts to make sure the Money Party
that includes both Republicans and Democrats remains dominant and
that the election’s mandate is ignored. The thing they really do not
want is for the People Party to assert itself against the Money Party.
I hope when Pelosi and other Democrats talk about “bipartisanship”
they understand the real partisan divide in Washington, and will use
their power to build coalitions of Republicans and Democrats to push
the People Party’s agenda. Because doing the opposite - solidifying
coalitions of Republicans and Democrats to continue pushing the Money
Party’s agenda - is not the “bipartisanship” this country wants or
deserves.
To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, I would remind progressives that
partisanship in the defense of regular people is no vice, and
Washington’s faux bipartisanship in the pursuit of selling out is no
virtue.
