Remember Norm Coleman promising to "change the tone?" Remember George Bush saying the same thing in 2000? They were lying. Not only have they not changed the tone, the President and the Republican House and Senate are the most partisan in recent generations.

Norman Ornstein from the American Enterprise Institute (which is not a liberal organization) said the Republicans "have been gradually using, on a regular basis, techniques that violate all the norms of conduct and behavior. And they've gotten away with it." These include denying the minority the right to appoint their proportionate members to conference committees, holding roll call votes open for hours on end frequently until they can finally twist enough arms to win key votes (three hours on the medicare bill), and scheduling votes mere minutes after showing Democrats the legislation for the very first time.

Not only that, if you happen to have a Democratic congressperson, they make sure the federal government will not spend money on you. Districts with Republican congresspeople receive an average of $612,000,000 more per year than ones with Democratic representatives.

They have no shame, either. Democrats never dared denied Republicans their representation on conference committees. When then-Speaker of the House Jim Wright held a roll call vote open for an extra 10 minutes, they decried it as tyranny. Finally, when Democrats controlled Congress, the disparity in spending between Democratic-controlled House districts and Republican-controlled ones was only $35 million (1/36th of the current gap) in favor of the Democrats, and Republicans lambasted the Democratic leadership as corrupt for its pork-barrel spending.

The Republicans have no tact, either. When Democrats refused to leave a committee room where tax legislation was being considered, Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas called the cops on them. The cops fortunately just laughed at him.

Why is partisanship such a problem? One reason is the nature of congressional redistricting. With incumbent protection placed at such a premium, 400 of 435 members are consistently reelected by landslide (20%) margins. This means they're not accountable to the voting public at large, they're accountable only to their party, ie, they're only vulnerable to primary challenges. This ensures a starkly partisan house.

Frankly, though, Democrats never ran the House in the ruthlessly partisan fashion Delay and Hastert do. But the sad thing is, the incentives are set up for the Republicans to be as vicious and nasty as they want to be, because angry partisanship creates voter apathy, and committed Republicans already vote, whereas the hundred million or so nonvoters would be natural Democrats.

As a larger theme, it's also in the interest of Republicans to make government perform badly; they can't run against government unless it's something people are angry at. They really can't be considered good stewards of the state.

Remember these things next time you're thinking of pulling the lever for Ramstad, Gutknecht, Kennedy, or Kline. You're voting for divisive partisanship and non-deliberative government.