Bipartidarismo III: Os Limites do Pactos

No seguimento dos posts anteriores, um artigo do Jay Cost sobre os limites dos bons acordos, os tais que não satisfazem verdadeiramente ninguém. As passagens chave:

"Partisan disagreements are real. That is, they concern different conceptions of the right or the good - and they are generated in good faith. [...] Partisan disagreements are typically the result of honest differences about issues for which there is no obviously correct answer."

"Bipartisanship can often conflict with the personal goals of politicians. [...] Participation in government creates a huge collective action problem. Namely, why should an individual work on behalf of the public good? It's rational to let some other fool do it while you collect all the benefits.[...] So, it's good to be in politics. It has to be - if it wasn't, nobody worth a salt would bother getting into it."

"There is a bipartisan solution to most problems. [...] That solution is the status quo. If one side vehemently objects to the changes that the other side wants, and vice-versa, the chances are good that they both have the same second choice: no change at all."