[thecavemaster]

I'm not taking a side in this thread's "hero or not" debate, but I had to respond here. Beetle is exactly right with these two statements.

Partisan politics is one of our country's biggest problems. Our lawmakers and excutive officeholders too often go right in lock-step with each of their party's platforms. You'll have a vote on an issue, and nearly everyone from one party votes one way, and most of the other side votes the other way. Lawmakers are too afraid to "cross the aisle", so to speak, for fear of alienating their party leadership.

This can be very dangerous when one party has total control over the Presidency as well as both houses of Congress. No party, be it Dem or GOP, should ever have free reign to push their entire agenda onto the American public. We will always be better off if the two parties are required to work together and compromise in order to get legislation passed.

Yes, I know this bogs things down and keeps laws from being passed sooner. And then people complain that "our government won't do anything". But I would rather see our government do nothing than to have either party enjoy unchecked power to do as they please. I hope that whatever the election results this November, that the party that loses the presidency at least keeps control of one house of Congress.

We have a two party system as a checks and balances kind of thing. Partisan politics is an overused mantra. The parties have differences, big ones. Sometimes, they compromise. A lot of the time they don't. Health care? Big differences. Keeping social security solvent? Big differences. Right to choose for a woman? Big differences. Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning? Big differences. And on and on it goes.