You hear a lot of political types complaining about the lack of bipartisanship in Congress. The Democrats and Republicans can't get along like they used to. There is one real obvious reason. There used to be conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress. Not anymore. At the national level, the Democratic party is liberal and the Republican party is conservative.
Look at the numbers. The Americans for Democratic Action is the oldest liberal rating organization. They have been at it since 1947. For the 2010 session (the latest year that they have posted) the ADA rated Senate Democrats as 88 percent liberal and Senate Republicans as 7 percent liberal. House Democrats were rated 84 percent liberal and House Republicans 5 percent liberal.
The premier conservative rating organization, the American Conservative Union, agrees although the numbers don't match exactly. (They don't use exactly the same set of votes for their ratings.) For 2010 Senate Democrats were rated 7 percent conservative (93 percent liberal) and Senate Republicans were rated 90 percent conservative (10 percent liberal). They rated House Democrats 7 percent conservative (93 percent liberal) and House Republicans 92 percent conservative (8 percent liberal).
It's no wonder that there is little agreement in Washington. Liberals and conservatives have very different world views including views of the scope and role of government.
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Tom Powers
Corydon, Ind.
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