"In a divided political system, the only way to get things done is by bridging divides even when we have strong disagreements on other issues."
That's US senator Jeanne Shaheen on receiving an award this week from the New England Council, an association of businessmen.
I'm not sure which divides she was referring to because also in the news this week, the socialist/progressive wing of her party recently scored a number of victories in US House primaries over moderates like Shaheen and those progressive have pledged to do battle against the "establishment" moderates in their own party.
Progressive Democrats hope to win enough house seats to force the party to adopt more radical, pro-working-class policies. "This is why it's important to get many real progressives in there," said Adam Hamawy, a progressive running for a New Jersey House seat. "We have some real fighters that will stand up for what's right." There was not talk of bridging divides.
Meanwhile, centrist House reps are vowing to resist the progressive wave. As one of them (unnamed) told Axios, "Negotiating with these guys [on the left] never works out well because they'll never be satisfied."
Perhaps congressional centrists like this guy and Shaheen have more in common with centrist Republicans than the further-left members of their own party. And deals between moderate Dems and Republicans are on the rise in the form of discharge petitions--a means of "bridging divides" between the parties in the House. Only one passed between 2011 and 2022; 10 have passed since 2024.
I just happen to be finishing reading a book that saw this coming back in 2000:
Disputes within parties are more striking than conflict between parties. ... The people on the left and right who long for radical and heroic politics are driven absolutely batty be tepid Bobo politics. They see large problems in society, and they cry out for radical change.
That's from David Brooks, Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, p. 259.
