"Enemies vs. Adversaries"

[applegrove]

Enemies vs. Adversaries

by MICHAEL IGNATIEFF at the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/opinion/enemies-vs-adversaries.html?hp&_r=1&

"SNIP..................................


More civility and gentility — being nicer — will not cure this. What needs to change are the institutions themselves, and they will only change when the political class in Washington realizes that, just as in American football, there are some hits that are killing the game.

Saving the game means changing the rules. Until quite recently Americans believed their democracy was so exceptional that they had nothing to learn from other countries. Now, real dysfunction may make them look more carefully at how other democracies avoid gridlock. Britain, France and Germany, as well as Canada and Australia, have impartial districting commissions that prevent gerrymandering and force incumbents to reach out rather than play solely to their base. They have campaign finance rules that prevent rich cranks from funding rabid partisanship. They have rules to prevent politicians from grandstanding abuse of process in their legislatures. They have open primaries that prevent electoral capture by fanatics. If Americans still feel that other countries’ democratic practices have nothing to teach them, they can learn from reform at the state and local level.




.................................SNIP"

[Southside]

1. Bipartisanship is a dirty word to many

Open primaries and campaign finance reform to circumvent Citizens United would be great. We need a middle class working families revolution, it's becoming an extinct group. We need the best candidates period, not the most partisan candidates.

Thanks for the post.