密歇根新闻广播 重拾密歇根的政治文明

Everyone’s back to the political games in D.C. and Lansing now that lawmakers are back from the annual Mackinac Island Policy Conference where one of the agenda items on the to-do list was restoring political civility.

In a speech to business and political leaders at the conference, Governor Rick Snyder called the tone of political rhetoric¹ a national crisis. “I view this as probably the largest threat to our country,” Snyder told the audience.

Snyder’s complaint is that the current environment gets in the way of practical problem-solving; an exercise that requires people to meet in the middle. Not just to find common ground, but also to compromise.

The heat of the last election cycle elevated this to command the attention of the state’s business and political leaders. But this isn’t something that just emerged last year. Or even the last couple of years.

Frances Lee is a political science professor at the University of Maryland. She’s written papers and a book on the subject. She says the competition for control buries compromise.

It's Just Politics with Zoe Clark and Rick Pluta

“Close competition creates certain incentives³ that make it hard to pursue bipartisan strategies in legislating⁵. It reduces the incentives to do that,” Lee told It’s Just Politics.

She says party caucuses⁷ that see control of the House or the Senate, or both, within reach, are less likely to cooperate and compromise. As the search for win-win deals gives way to a fight for I win-you lose conclusions. Call it the rule of the whole enchilada. And Lee says in Michigan, state government is now even more polarized than Congress.

In Congress until the 1980s, and in Michigan until the 1990s, Democratic control was fairly entrenched⁸. In Michigan, that was mostly true in the state House. As every election became a battle for control, cooperation became tougher and tougher.

Caucus⁶ leaders became more invested in partisan⁴ victories than policy victories. And that has an effect in how problems get solved.

Remember President Bill Clinton and “triangulation”? It was the idea that Clinton would borrow from the right and the left to present solutions from the center.

So, apply the logic⁹ of triangulation to today’s Michigan Legislature: Democrats¹⁰ in the minority have a political need to show the Republicans as failures while Republicans, who have the most to gain from bipartisanship, also have an incentive² to sow fear over what might happen should the Democrats win control. Thus, they’re in no position to court Democrats with compromises.

Professor Frances Lee says when one party has a solid, nearly permanent majority, legislators in the minority have an interest in bargaining to get something. And the majority has an interest in showing it can govern with buy-in from the minority party.

Which brings us back to Rick Snyder, a Republican who’s sent signals he’d like to govern from the center, but has to bargain with Republicans who have no interest in having Democrats at the table. And Democrats who have no stake in Republican successes.

Doesn’t quite do much for the whole restoring civility thing.

1 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

2 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

3 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

5 legislating   

v.立法，制定法律( legislate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? 为什么那些议员们做在那里不立法？ 来自互联网
• From legislating and protecting peasant's interests organizationally. " 从立法和组织上保护农民利益。 来自互联网

6 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

7 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

8 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

9 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

10 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》