A political reality check.

[RiverLover]

34. There were also "far-sighted" republicans in FDR's congress. "Progessive" Republicans even~

The New Deal wasn’t just a product of Democratic super-majorities. Principled legislators in both parties were willing to work together to revive the economy.

The true conservative seeks to protect the system of private property and free enterprise by correcting such injustices and inequalities as arise from it. The most serious threat to our institutions comes from those who refuse to face the need for change. Liberalism becomes the protection for the far-sighted conservative. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe’s recent announcement that she has decided to leave the Senate because of partisan gridlock is being widely viewed on both sides of the aisle as further confirmation — as if we needed it — of just how dysfunctional our political process has become. In good health and likely to win if she were to run, Senator Snowe said she had to consider how productive an additional term would be given the “polarized environment” in Congress. In light of this, and in light of the fact that she does not expect the intense partisanship of recent years to change over the short term, she reluctantly decided not to seek re-election. Her fellow senator, Republican Susan Collins of Maine, remarked that she is “devastated” by the news, while Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont called her decision a real loss, noting that he misses the days when “Republicans and Democrats worked together” for the good of the country.

Partisanship has been part of America’s political process from the beginning. Why, then, is today’s partisanship so much more destructive than in the past? The answer may lie in the makeup of the parties themselves. Many Americans, for example, assume that Franklin Roosevelt was able to get through such landmark pieces of legislation as the Social Security Act or the National Labor Relations Act because the Democrats held huge majorities in both houses of Congress. But the truth is that many of FDR’s harshest critics came from the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, while some of his strongest supporters were progressive Republicans.

http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/new-roosevelt/bipartisanship-made-new-deal-possible

Those days with sane rethugs who stood for people are long gone!