One man, Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Senator, just put the proverbial monkey wrench in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation by announcing his intention to vote against the bill. While I tend to agree with Mr. Manchin’s position, I find the political system to be either broken or in need of an overhaul.

Regardless of the issue, when one man can dictate what will happen with legislation, we should all sit up and take notice. Our political system is under attack and both political parties seem to encourage that.

I am old school and believe consensus building is the way legislation is best made. There is certainly a divide between labor and management, conservative and liberal, and the wealthy and the poor. There is always division and always will be. That doesn’t mean that reasonable people cannot sit down and come to an agreement. I have carried the union card and have been in management. The perspectives of the parties are different. Good negotiations acknowledges that both sides must gain something from the negotiation for a settlement to be reached. That is a consensus.

Today, Republicans and Democrats in Washington want to have it all their way or no deal. In all honesty, we are starting to look like the European parliamentary form of government.   Each political party votes as a block and the party is “King.” That concept seems to destroy all efforts at bipartisanship and consensus building.

• See Mr. Koritz's complete column in the Friday, Dec. 24, print edition of the Clinton Journal or now in the Journal E-Edition for subscribers.