Compromise is the essence of democracy. You can't expect to get everything you want from the legislative process. And if you did, you would be a dictator.
But Bi-Partisanship is still a dirty word. It is a way to make compromise seem more palatable to the the voting public. I will do things in the spirit of Bi-Partisanship! says the politician. But saying that means you don't have tell the voters what it is you believe in. It also means you are weak. A politician has to say what he believes in and accept the consequences. Being a nice Bi-Partisan guy may seem a good way to appeal to 90 percent of the population. But the only people who have achieved such pluralities in elections weren't nice guys at all.
When you enter the political process, you have to be a mud-slinging son-of-a-bitch to accomplish anything. Mud-slinging is also the essence of democracy. So, instead of trying to evade this unpleasant fact about democracy, politicians should just get it on and behave in the most partisan ways possible till the compromise has to occur.
A Bi-Partisan Republican may get Democrats to like him but he won't get any money from them.
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