Beware
the entreaties from the Democrat Party…especially from the Biden sector…about a
return to normalcy. Normal is a very relative term and it means
very different things to different people.
Our government is designed to
feature a certain degree of tension between people who hold different ideas and
opinions about policy and law. This
tension exists in a very natural and appropriate state when Congress considers
legislation and promulgates, along with the Executive Branch, law for the
citizenry of our nation. The balance of this tension needs to be
maintained in a certain zone in order for government to function as it was
designed. Recent history has found this tension
residing in one end or the other of a reasonableness spectrum; not in the middle
zone as it should be.
If
the balance is too extreme one way, we can have absolute gridlock and open
warfare between the two national parties.
This is the condition we find ourselves in today and, in my opinion, it
can be directly traced back to the poisonous and partisan Obamacare debate. As I have stated many times before, Obama
came into office with more good will and potential than any President in my
lifetime. So much was possible. But instead of parlaying this good will into
bipartisan legislation that clearly would have been heavily weighted towards
Democrat ideals, Obama and his ilk in Congress would settle for nothing less
than 100 percent of their agenda in the legislative process. Because they controlled both Houses of
Congress in Obama’s first two years of office, the Democrats were able to ram
the pure formula of Obamacare down the throats of Congressional Republicans and
the American public. It was a costly
victory and it was short-lived.
The
arrogance and obstinance exhibited by the Democrats during the Obamacare passage
poisoned the political waters in WDC so badly that Obama’s remaining six years
as President were paralyzed by partisan rancor and gridlock. Oh, what could have been? Had Obama and the Democrats settled for the
75 to 85 percent of Obamacare that they could have achieved with Republican support, who knows what
might have been accomplished in those next six years? That poison still remains in the WDC water
and the sequel to the Obamacare debacle has played out in Trump’s first two
years. This time, the Republicans
controlled both Houses of Congress and settled for nothing less than total and
complete domination of the Democratic Party.
Just as the Democrats were ill-served by their end zone celebration, so
were the Republicans. And now two years
into Trump’s first term, with the Democrats having wrested control of the House
of Representatives from the grip of the Republicans, we are once again in the
throes of full-fledged gridlock in our legislative process. Sincere bipartisanship is a forgotten virtue
in today’s WDC.
And
now comes the Democrat Party in their approach to the 2020 Presidential
election. They trumpet calls for a
new-found civility in
government. They want to restore calmness and productivity to the
function of our national bureaucracy.
Joe Biden says that he does not need to be angry to be President. Inherent
in their calls for change is the charge that President Donald Trump is the sole
cause of the current chaos we see in WDC.
They say remove the Donald, replace him with a Democrat, and all will be
sweetness and light. Also inherent in
their argument for a Democrat in the White House is the fact that somehow…the
only way we can achieve bipartisan nirvana in government is with a Democrat President; that simple action
will somehow, someway, and in a miraculous fashion, return our federal
structure to optimum performance. DO NOT BELIEVE this for a moment. Old Slow Joe is saying stop fighting and start fixing.
Maybe he needs to have a serious conversation with Chuck and Nancy about
how Congress needs to start acting.
If
you watch and listen very closely, you will discover that Joe Biden and all the
other 20-some-odd Democrats that desire to be President wants everyone to sing
Kumbaya together; but only if they are
holding the microphone. At some point in
the last few years, the Democratic Party adopted a position, privately-held and
not for public consumption, that they would only allow this government to function
in a normal state if there was a Democrat
in the Oval Office. The obvious fact
that the Democrats control the House of Representatives and could generate bill
after bill of positive and substantial legislation is apparently lost on this return to normal Democrat brigade. Sadly, this attitude is pretty well reflected
in the Republican Party also. Such is
the state of our national politics that a 60/40 content in your favor is
unacceptable in new legislation. In
order to qualify as a win nowadays, it has to be 100 percent in your favor. Things can only be normal if I am in
charge. We can sing the song of
unification; but only if I am on
stage leading the song and you are in
the crowd singing.
You
might ask…If both parties are adopting this type of behavior, then why is Trump
a better choice than any Democrat? Why
should we expect any more production from Republicans than we would from
Democrats? That is a good question and
the answer is not simple. Neither party
has done much to instill confidence in their willingness or ability to reach
across the aisle to the opposing party.
The Republicans and the Democrats have both demonstrated the desire to dance on the other’s grave rather
than have a civil debate about national policy.
The difference that I see is in the person of Donald Trump. With the exception of Bernie Sanders, every
single Democrat running for their party’s nomination is willing to say or do
anything necessary to gain the party’s slot on the next presidential
ballot. Like him or not, Bernie has been
consistent in his positions for decades and he is sincere in his policies. What you see is what you get. He offers a clear choice for voters. For
all of his faults…and they are many…President
Trump is equally driven by a set of sincerely-held principles. Trump’s policy
positions are not as well-developed and defined as Bernie’s. Trump has not been a lifetime politician and
he has not spent decades developing a political platform. In fact, it is probably fair to say that several
of Trump’s policy ideals are still being formulated on the fly. But after two years in office, one can draw a
fair impression of what President Trump stands for. His political instincts have often co-mingled
with his policy instincts in a rather volatile fashion; but the result has been
an effective, free-market based, capitalist approach to a smaller and less
intrusive government. Sometimes it is
difficult to witness his personal and professional behavior and rhetoric; but
President Trump is typically on the right and proper side of the policy
arguments in which he chooses to engage.
As
for Congress…we are back to the all is
well as long as I am on top logic.
In a perfect…no, simply a normal…world, a divided Congress would be a
decent arrangement. The minority would
respect the will of the voters who placed their opponents in power over
them. The majority would conduct
business with respect for the legitimate and substantive input from the
minority; acknowledging that their majority status is temporary and that the
minority does, in fact, represent a lot of people. However, in order for Congress to once again
function in a productive state while divided, it will require a change that
must be ushered in by new and bold leaders from both parties. It is difficult to see people of that caliber
on either side of the political aisle these days.
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And
if we are to have a divided Congress,
it is fairly clear that the Senate should be aligned with the White House. Whichever party we place in the Presidency,
that person should have the right to nominate qualified and competent personnel to help them achieve their
political ideals. This appointment process
is largely controlled by the Senate and it should
occur in a fairly expedited fashion.
In a historical and fundamental sense, it is said that all legislation
should begin in the House and then move over to simmer in the saucer of Senate consideration and deliberation. The partisan rancor that is so pervasive in
the House these days, combined with the renegade attitudes of incoming freshmen
from both parties, has led the House down a road of wasting enormous amounts of
time and political energy on issues that have little or no real legislative
impact regarding our country. They rush
to the cameras, posture for the spotlights, and sell their souls to the media
and identity factions that permeate Capitol Hill. As poorly as the Senate has performed in this
post-Obamacare era, the House has completely fallen off the cliff. The Senate appears to be content to live
their lives of semi-royalty and privilege with their noses properly posed high
in the air while the clown circus in the House proceeds.
Therefore,
as much as it chaffs me to advocate for it; I believe that given the condition
of our nation’s realpolitik these days, the best
government we can have is a unified government under one party. This is the other extreme, as opposed to the
gridlock mentioned earlier, in regards to the legislative tension that should
naturally exist in our form of government.
I realize full well that there is little reason to expect a
Republican-controlled Congress to do anything less than exercise complete
disdain for the Democrats in the minority.
The only redemption to this situation would be the fact that results expectations would be greatly
clarified and the success or failure of government performance over the next
six years would be laid squarely at the feet of the Republican Party. Both parties seem to relish the role of
criticizing their opponents-in-charge
and campaigning in an eternal anti mode;
they would rather be obstructionists
than constructionists. Perhaps the way to change this pattern is to
put them in charge, remove the excuses, and see how they behave when they
actually have to do something productive. Both parties have had brief experience in
this area with our last two Presidents. Have they learned anything at all? Judging from the results in both cases…not
much.
The
only reason I think there is a possibility that this time may be different is
Trump. The lines between the Democrat
Presidents and the Republican Presidents have been blurred. While it is certainly true that the last few
Republican Presidents have talked
different than Democrats, they have governed
in much the same fashion. Over the last
several decades, the Democratic Party has succeeded in moving the national
political center to the left; pulling the Republican Party with it. The last Republican President that actually
presided over our government like a conservative was Ronald Reagan. I do not pretend that Donald Trump is the
second coming of Ronald Reagan. When it
comes to leadership, Trump is not up to carrying Reagan’s briefcase. But Trump is a legitimate outsider; I believe
his instincts are basically conservative; and while he is lacking in the
intestinal fortitude exhibited by Reagan, his bluster and ego lead him
headfirst into policy decisions where other Republicans fear to tread. As bizarre as it might seem on the surface,
this man of privilege and entitlement, who was actually raised as a liberal
Democrat, provides a much clearer alternative to the Democrat’s liberal agenda as any other Republican
standing. Perhaps the best course is to keep
the Republican Senate, give Trump back a Republican House, and see if they (the Republicans) can walk the walk.
