I think that many of these political oriented posts fail to acknowledge that America is a pluralist society the components of which compete with each other for federal, state, and local policies, laws, and funding. It is quite a challenge for any officeholder to discern the components, how representative they are of the community, and to decide on the best course of action or compromise among them.

I have posted so many times before that, on the national level, it is the Congress where governmental power, for the most part, resides. Partisan developee early in this Nation's history and for good or ill, it's been a part of America's political landscape ever since. It will always be despite any outcries for bi-partisanship. Partisanship is based on several factors not the least of which is ideology. Thus, bi-partisanship is far and in between. The competition of ideas is what generates the best attempted solutions.