Beau Willimon Quotes
When you have both parties who will not find ways to compromise, who won't meet in the middle, you have paralysis. It's the perversion of idealism.
Willimon, Beau. Interview. The New York Times, 1 Feb. 2013.
See {592770} for Adams perception of his own character.
At the time Congress was gridlocked in bitter hyperpartisan conflict. Most people called for more comity and bipartisanship and most politicians wanted more bipartisanship but blamed the other party for the rift. Mourdock, arguing for less bipartisanship and no compromise defeated Richard Lugar in the Republican Senatorial Primary election. Lugar, one of the most respected and effective Senators was a statesman who worked with any and all to find effective compromises to reach national solutions. The nation was so politically polarized that the Republican Indiana voters ousted one of their most senior senators because he was effective at developing national solutions. See {626717} and {302706} for other Mourdock’s outrageous comments. While this rhetoric won in the Primary, it lost him the general election in a state where Republicans had a strong majority and should have had the seat.
Rand was wrong about the timing. Extremism per se as an evil is not a new political phenomenon. It was forcefully propounded by Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics and other works. Many other political philosophers have argued that moderation in politics is good and extremism is not.
Pack Beauregard Willimon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He helped develop the American version of the series House of Cards and served as showrunner for the first four seasons. In 2018, Willimon created the drama series The First for Hulu, about the first manned mission to Mars.
