The fallacy of bipartisanship

Today I heard a radio interview of Walt Minnick, in which he said (I’m paraphrasing, but it’s close) “We need to govern from the center, and we need to govern in a bipartisan way, or we’ll lose the majority of the country.”

I agree we should govern from the center, if it’s the center of the majority party that was just placed in power. The would be way off to the left of Walt, though, so I doubt he meant that.

The part that I really take issue with is the alleged need to be “bipartisan.” Being bipartisan is getting the country nowhere. Right now, the Republican Party has decided that it’s politically expedient to prevent anything from getting done, so that Democrats can’t get credit for anything. Since the R’s are pretty much captured by the wingnut wing of the party, their goal is not what is in the best interest of the country, but what is in the best interest of the conservative faction of the Republican Party.

Being bipartisan is simply empowering Republicans to prevent Democrats from implementing the policy agenda they were elected on. Walt and his fellow Lap Dog Democrats are helping stymie what the country wants.

Do you doubt this? Look, the country just installed a Democratic President who campaigned on this agenda, it has given the Senate Democrats a filibuster-proof majority, and it has given the House a commanding Democratic majority. Way, way more people are represented by Democrats in Congress than are represented by Republicans. Americans want the change Democrats said they’d bring.

Bipartisanship is just the Trojan Horse they’re tying to use to pull this off. And Walt has fallen for it.