Polarization_In_The_Political_System

Polarization In The Political System Polarization in the Political System On Tuesday, November 14, 1995, in what has been perceived as the years biggest non-event, the federal government shut down all "non-essential" services due to what was, for all intents and purposes, a game of national "chicken" between the House Speaker and the President. And, at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars a day, this dubious battle of dueling egos did not come cheap (Bradsher, 1995, p.16). Why do politicians find it almost congenitallyimpossible to cooperate' What is it about politics and power that seemto always put them at odds with good government' Indeed, is an effective, well run government even possible given the current adversarial relationship between our two main political parties' It would seem that the exercise of power for its own sake, and a competitive situation in which one side must always oppose the other on any issue, is incompatible with the cooperation and compromise necessary for the government to function. As the United States becom! es more extreme in its beliefs in general, group polarization and competition, which requires a mutual exclusivity of goal attainment, will lead to more "showdown" situations in which the power, political, government, polarization, one, group, competition, two, president, competitive, behavior, 1995, run, extreme, wilson, politicians, both, since, people, order, gain, wilson's, system, regard, own, nature, must, governor, good, find, extremism, compromise, case, between, been