Progressive Voices Speaking Out
Actually the Republican and Democratic parties collaborated quite a bit well into the 20th century. They had to, because both parties were populated by both liberals and conservatives. Republicans and Democrats crossed party lines to advance their causes.
In a recent posting in ShowMeProgress, a blogger going by the name of Willy K, residing in southwest Missouri reports on an exchange of
While the political philosophy of the Coffee Party is evolving on a day-by day basis, a constant principle seems to be a commitment towards a civil political dialogue. This in itself separates the party from Tea Baggers.
An honest Tea Bagger would ask of a government employee to spend his or her time focused on his or her job. Barack Obama has a day job; it’s called being president of the United States. Claire McCaskill has a day job; it’s called being a U.S. Senator.
A story is usually real until the media gives it a tag line; then things begin to deteriorate. Dr. Gupta’s piece came after the tag lines had been written and the melodramatic music was playing. But it cut through the chafe and showed us what real broadcast journalism and real engagement in a story can be. I only wish more people had seen it.
The current lack of bi-partisan cooperation in part reflects a polarity of ideas, but also a distressing amount of “boys and girls behaving badly.”
Imagine if we looked at solving problems over the course of a generation, or perhaps even longer. One thing is that our options for solutions would grow exponentially.