There’s an old axiom that comes up every so often that we tend to put a lot of stock in. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. But, in our view, the reverse is also true – what’s bad for the goose is bad for the gander.

And in our opinion Republicans are reaping what they’ve sown during their time as the majority party in the state House of Representatives. It wasn’t uncommon for bills that House Republicans didn’t want to come up for a vote to be set aside with House rules tricks like transferring them from committee to committee to postpone a potential vote or, frankly, just plainly thrown in the recycling bin by not letting them come to a committee floor for a vote.

Now, Democrats are playing the same games with legislation Republicans want to bring to votes – and they’re ticked to be on the receiving end of a political party foul. Specifically, Republicans are upset Democrats in the state House of Representatives won’t bring Senate Bill 9, House Bill 158 and House Bill 1849 to a committee vote. Senate Bill 9, known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, would require public schools and colleges to label sports teams as male, female or coed, states that only biological females can join teams designated for women and allows students to take legal action if they are harmed by violations of the rule. House Bill 158, also known as the Protect Women’s Sports Act, requires public schools and universities in Pennsylvania to expressly designate all athletic teams and sport activities as male, female, or coed based strictly on biological sex. House Bill 1849 mandates separate athletic teams based on biological sex. The legislation requires public schools and universities to expressly designate sports as male, female, or coed, expressly prohibiting biological males from competing on teams designated for females.

We held this opinion before and we hold it now – bills on contentious issues like the Women’s Sports Act should rise and fall on their own merits, not party tricks. We’ve never been a fan of political parlor tricks. If a party holds a political numbers advantage then why not let bills the party is certain will be defeated come up for a vote? If a party’s ideas are pure, why not allow those ideas to be tested by a vote?

Why should voters have much faith in the ability of their elected representatives at the state level to handle big issues like energy, the economy and school funding when those same representatives spend so much time and effort playing games like this? The end result is wasted time, wasted effort and a growing distrust in the government to make any sort of tough decision.