Without some kind of miracle, or I suppose a horrible disaster that brings us together, most indications seem to point to a year where the level of partisanship reaches new depths that surpass even last year’s lows.

This was the subject of my latest piece on over at WNYC’s It’s a Free Country:

For all the bad that happened last year, most everything that led to gridlock isn’t going anywhere, and in many cases will be worse. Add a presidential election cycle into the mix and this year might even make last year seem bearable. The first two notable issues to make headlines through the din of the Republican primary slugfest—SOPA/PIPA and the Keystone XL pipeline—illustrate how this may play out.

Before a massive online protest of websites blacking out their sites in protest of the dangerous anti-piracy legislation sent a tidal wave of angry web surfers to their congresspersons to complain, it appeared as if the bills might pass. The dangers inherent to the failed bill don’t need to be repeated here, but the mere fact that such a potentially damaging bill initially had majority support in Congress is in and of itself unnerving. If you think this battle has been won, just look to a trade treaty called ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) that is just as bad, and in some ways worse, then SOPA or PIPA.

I’m really having a hard time looking for something to give me any sort of optimism about how this year is going to play out. Right now I can’t find anything more than silver linings, like how a horrible election will push even more people into having had enough with the two major parties, resulting in even higher rates of independents in 2013 and on.

Can you think of any positives?

Read on at It’s a Free Country »