Legislation is often bogged down because of partisanship
Washington is "broken" right now, according to former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell; he says the current "brutal partisanship" dims the chance for political leadership in many arenas.
The poisoned atmosphere surrounding legislative interactions, for instance, Powell said, is especially damaging to telecom and technology policy-making, where nuance, technical knowledge and a delicate balancing act are required to bring off any significant regulatory reform. And even when the FCC would try to take a position on an issue, he said, it is guaranteed to spend years in court defending it. "Every single decision now at the FCC takes four years," said Powell. The political battles at the agency, he noted with regret, "have become a business unto itself," with no shortage of wasted time and
money.
FCC Chairman Powell's father, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said it's [political partisanship] the worst he's seen in 40 years. It's broken, collapsed into brutal partisanship. When your major objective is to make sure the other team fails... that's not policy making, that's like rugby." The right to fight can be very healthy, but general party partisanship corrupts the legislative and executive decision making process. Join VOID, Vote Out Incumbents for Democracy, and vote out the irresponsible incumbents who prefer partisan gamesmanship to solving our problems. Do your part to restore a trustworthy relationship with our representatives in Washington, DC!
Source: Information Week
