Wiseacre -
I think demcracy requires firm opposition. We need opposition parties to ask questions, challenge assumptions and present alternative visions.
What we don't need is legislation so heavily compromised that it does not work, or legislation bogged down in committees for years when it could make a real difference once implemented.
When a party stand on a couple of key issues and wins an election on them, they have a mandate from the people, even if they do not have a majority in the house. I think opposition parties should respect that, even if they do not support the legislation themselves.
Respect it how? The GOP won the 2010 midterm elections by a large margin, wouldn't you call that a mandate? I don't see the democrats respecting that result at all.