worry, on 03 October 2018 - 08:53 PM, said:
The american political system as constitutionally designed only works on compromise. Its not a matter of principle, it is pure pragmatism. They have 2 legislative bodies and an executive, all elected separately, and which must coordinate.
If you end up with all 3 in one party, they still have to compromise between ideological differences of the party and regional interests. And traditions of compromise are the only thing that allow the minority voices in those bodies any chance of a say at all. But for most of the time, you have some version of divided government. And if neither side blinks, that simply doesn't function.
For all the talk of compromising as caving, republicans never compromising and defying convention, and democrats caving, even in the last highly polarized decade you have had instances of democrats defying political convention to force things through without compromise, and multiple instances of republicans compromising, particularly in the Senate. Democrats didn't have to go nuclear to get Sotomayor or Kagan through, and both got republican votes to approve.
And not every decision of government is a stark idealistic choice, either.
Especially when it comes to the court. Both parties (republicans more) have been playing more and more political games with the court, and it is a destructive pattern. The president shouldn't be picking a judge by his or her ideology. And the Senate's role should be relatively minor and a mere affirmation that the choice is appropriate. No matter which side wins, the pattern is destructive. You get worse judges either way, because you are picking based on ideology rather than a position of fundamental fairness and respect for the law. But even worse things happen. You get unfilled seats for long blocks of time, you get 4-4 courts ducking important cases because they know they can't decide them. You potentially get fading justices with ill health or declining faculties sitting in a seat waiting for the right replacement.
And even if you fight that fight eye for an eye to try to win ideologically, whether or not you win becomes a much more random determination based on when judges die. Just imagine in 15 years, by then the first party to get both presidency and 50+ in the senate will be putting up recent law school grads, just to max out their "win".