Reply #13: I don't think the two concepts are entirely removed from each other. [View All]

[Occam Bandage]

In all countries, and in all types of government, partisanship and competence seem to be inversely linked. Certainly the hyperpartisanship of the Bush White House was a major reason for its incompetence; when it came to appointments and policies, they were more concerned with loyalty tests and ideological purity than they were with skills and results.

As Deng Xiaoping said as he began dismantling the ideological standards of the Mao regime, "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice."