Keep your friends close and your enemies closer...

Very interesting thoughts Todd, I probably would have guessed that it wouldn't even be possible to govern or do anything at all with a governing style like Lincoln's! But perhaps I just think that way because I've been brought up in this heavily "partisian" world, where it often appears that reconciliation between liberals and conservatives is impossible. It probably is true that it would be better to keep people who differ from you in your cabinet, even if only to get more points of view on issues. And maybe you're correct that partisianship is even worse than relativism and could be compared to a disease. You could probably make a good case for it. It divides people, usually into 2 or 3 warring camps, that routinely demonize each other at the other's expense. This in turn creates an "us versus them" mentality (false dichotomy?) in which the only way to "win" or to do good is to defeat the other party. This in turn takes the main focus of politics off of demanding social issues that need our attention to petty squabbling between parties.