E.J. Dionne Jr.
September 7, 2022
Partisanship is a moral good, not an evil. Parties organize conflict in a democratic society, acknowledge that a free people will always have disagreements to resolve, and accept that the other side will sometimes win.
With that paragraph, I have violated one of the central assumptions of contemporary political commentary. Even in opinion writing, virtue is typically cast as “nonpartisan,” “independent,” and unconstrained by grubby political concerns . . . .
Small-d democratic partisanship entails an acceptance of ongoing discord, and of victory and defeat, because the partisan understands that “my party’s status is just one part in a permanently pluralist politics.” . . . .
The mistake anti-partisans make is to confuse necessary limits on partisanship with an attack on partisanship altogether. The most obvious: Courts should not twist the law on behalf of party leaders. . . .
I pulled a few quotes on partisanship from the above opinion piece, just to get the gist of it into the OP for those who likely won't click the link.
Partisanship doesn't hold a negative connotation for me, and I'm wondering if I'm in the minority? I know there are plenty who see it as negative, but I don't, if it's not the "blind partisanship" the OP cautions against. I'd argue there's such a thing as a healthy partisanship.
Full disclosure: I've been registered as NPP (no political party) for the last decade-plus, and have voted Democratic for that same time period.
What do you think?