McCain's Death Marks The Near-Extinction Of Bipartisanship
The death of John McCain represents something more than the death of a U.S. senator and an American military hero.
In this hotly partisan era, it also symbolizes the near-extinction of lawmakers who believe in seeking bipartisanship to tackle big problems.
"[O]ur arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation to function well at all," McCain said last July, with a cut over his eye from treatment for brain cancer, speaking of Senate rules. "The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving America's problems and defend her from her adversaries."
McCain was a conservative. But he earned his "maverick" reputation, because when it came to seemingly intractable problems, like immigration and money in politics, he believed it was necessary to work
