Hyper Partisanship

The hyper partisanship that now prevalent in all corners of the United States and its insular territories brought to mind an aphorism of Itaro Ishii on the importance of compromise in both diplomacy and politics.

"In diplomacy, as in politics in general, compromise is essential; the interests of the opposition cannot be ignored. Give and take is crucial. One must think in terms of fifty-fifty, not seventy-thirty."

The problems that have come home to roost for both parties are rooted in their mutual anathematizations of compromise in all its diverse forms. As long as compromise and its appurtenances are viewed and treated as suspect, no sustainable progress towards healing the Republic's self inflicted wounds will be achievable. The most dangerous and damaging thing to the United States as a nation are not parties themselves rather it is the cultivation of an unrestrained hyper partisanship amongst the electorate. The perpetuation of this sort of extreme loathing, and distrust, or mistrust of politicians on the opposite side of the aisle only serves to engender intractable conflicts that resist settlement. Both sides possess valid points that merit consideration, and each has ideas worthy of being enacted into law. It is apparent to me that both sides have developed a case of tunnel vision, in the sense that they are so focused on pointing out the flaws of the other. The two parties and their adherents intentionally suppress, dismiss, and ignore any positive accomplishments by the other side. In addition both parties seem to be suffering from a loss of political depth perception and a degree of political achromatopsia characterized by the inability to perceive political nuances Not only have these taken hold in both the federal, state and local government they are increasingly infecting the populace as a whole with the disease that is hyper partisanship. What is clear is that Republicans, and Democrats alike have lost sight of the fact that neither party could long survive, endure, and thrive in the absence of the other. The raison d'être for their existence is to provide an alternative to the other without the other there would be no need for their continued quiddity. Furthermore, the Republic is not designed to function as a single party nation state, it needs both to survive and to thrive