All I Want For Christmas Is Bipartisanship

Patrick McCorkle
3 min readDec 23, 2024

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As of late, I’ve been somewhat encouraged by U.S. politics.

It’s almost as if a few politicians read my last blog and decided to call for civility and partisanship. I kid, but the timing is sure interesting.

Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) argued that “bipartisanship is as basic as the American covenant” and Senator James Lankford (R-OK) asked “how do get people who disagree to sit down and figure it out?” on a December 22nd special edition of Meet the Press.

Both men emphasized that we are first and foremost we are an “American family”, echoing their shared history as the Senate’s only ordained ministers. Lankford’s faith informs everything he does: “If your faith only affects what you do on Sunday mornings, things that you only do on weekends, that’s called a hobby. A faith permeates everything I do.” For his part, Warnock considers himself not “a Senator who used to be a pastor” but rather “a pastor in the U.S. Senate.” At the same time, he believes “firmly in the separation of Church and State.”

As a lapsed Catholic, I appreciate this non-doctrinal approach to religion. I still utilize the Golden Rule and other more generalist Christian principles and I applaud any politician who uses them to bridge, not divide.

Lankford mentioned that most people he talked to never have had a family of another race eat with them in their home which creates a natural barrier. We need to invite people of differing races, ethnicities, faiths and classes to break bread and discuss issues that affect us all as an American family.

Whether or not their constituents want it, more politicians need to mimic Lankford and Warnock. The temperature in America is way too hot right now. Sometimes, people equate civility and bipartisanship. I have said it before and I will say it again: they are not weaknesses. You can, should and must agree to disagree on crucial issues.

Lankford pointed out that when people hear compromise, they really hear “give up your values.” This is a difficult issue to conquer. I don’t have a magic bullet, but I’ll do my best to highlight this truth. Politicians have to relentlessly beat the drum about how their compromises led to solving problems while preserving their values.

Although he has engaged in partisan behavior since the election, President-elect Trump has said his inaugural address will focus on unity and he “loves” those who didn’t vote for him in his interview with Meet the Press. Echoing the gestures of Lankford and Warnock, Democratic Senator John Fetterman said “I’m not rooting against him (Trump). If you’re rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation. And, and I’m not ever going to be where I want a president to fail. So, country first.”

It sometimes is hard to remember that the president is the only nationally elected politician in the entire country. Whether or not you voted for him/her (we’ll get a female president, someday), they represent all 330+ million Americans. Not wishing for the president to fail is not the same as giving them a pass for all their activities.

Likewise, it’s difficult to remember that bipartisanship is baked into our country’s DNA. Civil Rights legislation passed in the wake of JFK’s assassination. Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill worked with Republican President Ronald Reagan on impactful legislation for years.

During the Meet the Press panel, Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin brought up the fact that the U.S. has had nasty elections before. The election of 1800 in particular was nasty: Federalist John Adams and Democratic-Republican said each other was an existential threat, monarchists and atheists- the final two huge insults in a country that had just kicked out King George III and was far more religious than today. We overcame such nastiness when our institutions were underdeveloped and we can do so now.

Paging Mariah Carey, all I want for Christmas is bipartisanship.

I hope you agree.

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Patrick McCorkle
Patrick McCorkle

Written by Patrick McCorkle

I am a young professional with keen interests in politics, history, foreign languages and the arts.

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