The contemporary fetishization of bipartisanship—esp among politicians & media—is a result of failing to come to terms with the past 40 years of ideological realignment between the parties. It’s the most fundamental structural change in our political system & it’s usually ignored
Public opinion on most (but not all!) issues hasn’t changed much. Nor has ideological identification. But sorting w/in parties has. The most liberal Republicans were once more liberal than the most conservative Democrats—no longer. Yet the structures of government remain the same
There was once a broad overlap of moderates, not to mention a pre-1993 House Republican caucus resigned to permanent minority status. There were bigger incentives to legislate in a bipartisan manner than today.
The reasons for the realignment are complex (and because so related to race, that it even happened is often denied by conservatives). But we’re living with the results. The forces encouraging avoiding bipartisanship are stronger than those that encourage it.
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