Posted by I hear that the Over the Mountain Democrats are getting “a lot of squawking from a few local Dems about providing a platform for a couple of Republicans” at tonight’s roundtable discussion on reforming the state’s constitution. (FYI: 6:30 p.m., Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.)
More discussion, more listening, more concern about what is best for the state instead of the party… these are good things.
On that note, the event’s keynote speaker, former Governor Albert Brewer voiced a concern of mine in a brief email interview he did with the group.
OTMDems: “You’ve been involved in or an interested observer of this state’s political landscape since the 1950’s. What do you see as the biggest changes in Alabama politics over the last 50 years?”
Brewer: “The emergence of the two-party system has been the most remarkable. The growth of the Alabama economy has made possible advances in education and other government services. Unfortunately the rise in virulent partisanship has made cooperative initiatives less productive and has brought about a decline in public participation in, and respect for, political leaders.”
Not just partisanship, “virulent partisanship,” and I agree. It’s less and less about good policy, and more and more about winning and losing. It’s about embarrassing or demeaning your political opponents.
I have said before that I understand honest political differences and the partisanship that comes with that. I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are bad people. Or dishonest. Or worthy of disrespect. The declining level of civil discourse on political issues causes me despair.
Tonight’s event could be a lively one.
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Yes, having more than one viable political party will do that.
I really find it remarkable whenever a Democrat from the “good old days” derides the partisanship of today’s politics that their own was lacking. Of course it was lacking in partisan divides. There was, for all intents and purposes, only one party.
But it was also a time single party with multiple factions, brutal bare knuckle primaries, sharp sectional divisions, friends rewarded, and enemies punished.
If one looks at the 2006 Democratic Senate primaries, I would say that still holds true.