Wrong question, weird answer

Via Yglesias, the Economist asks conservative author Reihan Salam an odd question:

What are some areas where you think Republicans can successfully work with Democrats in the future?

This strikes me as the wrong question, as it assumes that Republicans working with Democrats is some sort of goal worth working towards. It isn't, or at least it shouldn't be. Republicans and Democrats agree on some issues; they disagree on a lot of others. Most important things governments do involve differences of opinion, and it's pretty typical for those differences to fall roughly along party lines. Asking where Republicans can work with Democrats is like asking where boron and molybdenum can bond. Sure, it will happen in some circumstances (won't it?), but it's not necessarily a goal in itself.

Oh, Salam's answer, in part:

In the far future, I imagine that there will be bipartisan cooperation on space colonisation and efforts to terraform Mars.

Oh, great.