I want to bring up the recently ended talk about Republican Senator John McCain as a possible running mate for candidate Kerry. This topic brought up the new idea that a Republican could actually run with a Democrat (this is not unconstitutional, just a little uncomfortable!). Anyway, this brought up immediate questions to my mind: How would having a multi-party presidency affect our economy? How would it affect public opinion? And most importantly, how would it affect our foreign and domestic policy? And so I appeal to all of you with these questions for debate:

1.) Would having a Republican-Democratic presidency benefit the effectiveness of our government or not?

2.) Would having a multi-party presidency increase public patriotism and opinion of politics in general or not?

3.) What kind of foreign/domestic policy would result from a Republican-Domestic office? Or how would this affect existing policies (such as NCLB or the Patriot Act) ?



Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate your insight into this subject!

Sincerely,

Locke

Multi party presidency?
This happened before the adopthion of the 12th amendment. Lets gust say 'conflict of interest'.

Well if Kerry picks up John McCain as VP; I would say that Kerry would have more of a chance of winning--showing that is open minded about policy.

I would say it would be a great political move on John Kerrys part.

Other side of coin:
If John Kerry pick up a Repulican as VP; and Pres. Bush picks up a Democrat as VP
It would look like the parties are becoming one.

I'll answer questions 1 & 3 together since #3 is a specific version of #1. I don't believe that you would see any diluting of a specific bill such as NCLB or the PATRIOT Act, should you have a Republican-Democratic ticket. I believe that you are hinting that NCLB and the PATRIOT Act, which are two key Republican provisions would be challenged by the other party? It turns out that both parties have been of one mind on these two. When NCLB was passed in 2001, six republicans voted no while only two democrats opposed the measure. Those Republicans by the way were Voinovich, Inhofe, Helms,Kyle, Nickels, and Bennett. The bill passed by a wide margin, 91-8. The same kind of unanimous support was found with the PATRIOT Act of 201. How did the democrats do? 46 voted for it, one opposed, and one didn't cast a vote. In light of these numbers, it can be seen that the effect of having a democrat on board who can support the line for the most part, is feasible. Now I'm sure that the recent votes on these bills has changed somewhat. At the same time, you have an interesting coalition in both parties that oppose them. That is why you have the likes of Kucinich and Bob Barr opposing the PATRIOT Act. Or why GOP legislators in Virginia oppose NCLB and the lone person to vote against a rebellion in Virginia on NCLB was a democrat.