Politics & Power Quote by David E. Price

Congress is being framed here less as a temple of principle than as a machine with two gears: one that blends, one that grinds. David E. Price’s line is a masterclass in insider candor, because it blesses partisanship not as a regrettable fever but as a functional organ. The phrasing, “have also come to understand,” signals a conversion narrative: the veteran lawmaker presenting hard-earned wisdom, not ideology. It’s the rhetoric of experience meant to disarm cynicism and recast what voters often hate as what governance sometimes requires.

“Need” is the operative word. Bipartisanship is treated as necessary for legitimacy, durability, and buy-in; partisanship is necessary for clarity, accountability, and, bluntly, power. Price is quietly acknowledging that Congress doesn’t just deliberate, it competes. Parties are how coalitions form, agendas move, and voters can tell who to reward or punish. The subtext is that a purely bipartisan Congress would be amorphous and slow, while a purely partisan one would be brittle and destabilizing. You need both the handshake and the knife.

Context matters: Price, a long-serving Democratic congressman, spoke from within an era where “bipartisan” became a civic virtue word, often weaponized to shame one side into concessions. By pairing it with “partisan capacity,” he resists that moralizing script. He’s arguing for a more adult understanding of the institution: compromise isn’t sainthood, conflict isn’t sin; both are tools, and Congress runs on tools.