Michael Smith wrote:
>
> On Mon, 2007-08-06 at 22:05 -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> > As I keep saying, the political scientists who quantify these things
> > say that the differences between the two parties - in their electoral
> > base and their voting records in Congress - haven't been as wide as
> > they are now in decades, and maybe ever. I'd love to see an
> > intelligent refutation of this, but I haven't seen on yet.
>
> Erm ... the FISA "modernization" act, passed with Democratic help, and
> signed this last weekend?
>
> I dunno, maybe this isn't intelligent enough. What would it take? Just
> curious.
>
Consider: The two parties differ over single pay.
Or: The two parties differ sharply and viciously over the percentage states should contribute to new bridge construction.
Whether they differ often or infrequently is not the point. What they differ over is what counts, because that rveals the fundamental agreements underlying the differences. And that can't be quantified, and anyone who tries to quantify political differences disqualifies themselves as worth listening to.
Carrol