Beware the Siren’s Call of Normalcy

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.