By Carter Bundy
One of the trendier things people say in politics is, “Well, I guess I don’t care who’s in the White House, as long as the other party is in control of at least one house of Congress.”
It’s perfectly cool, because it implies a certain disdain and aloofness from politics, while at the same time making a statement against the extremes. It makes one a maverick. An independent. Non-partisan. A thinker. Everyone can nod and take another sip of Cabernet.
Being pretty trendy myself, I’m sure I’ve said it too, or some variation thereof. Gridlock is good. Checks and balances prevent totalitarianism. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The status quo is preferable to extremism.
So long,
There’s truth to all of it. If you have divided government, it’s hard to get things done. I first got to
In other words, as a lobbyist, as long as you were paying a bit of attention, nothing too bad could happen to your clients and nothing too good was ever expected from you. Off to Rio Chama and the Bull Ring for some schmoozing and adult beverages!
But as soon as Governor Richardson got in, and had a Dem House and Senate still in place, things started moving. Name an issue, something was going to happen. Tax policy. Health care. Labor rights. GLBT rights. Even “conservative” issues like concealed carry moved with the House, Senate and Fourth Floor all being run by the same party.
Eradicating extreme
Problem is, what if the status quo is itself extreme? What if you have a foreign policy predicated on preemptive war? What if you have a fiscal policy that’s putting the next three of four generations in hock to
What if you have decaying education and health care among your citizens? What if you’ve blown the opportunity to shore up crucial government programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? What if you’ve permanently ruined 40 million acres of wilderness by virtually giving away federal land to extractive industries who donated tens of millions of dollars to your party?
When the status quo is as extreme as the current American status quo is, gridlock isn’t good enough.
Divided we fail?
AARP is currently running a series of ads titled “Divided We Fail,” blasting legislators in both parties for gridlock. But isn’t that exactly what should happen when you have power diversified? Take health care for example. The Dem solutions generally run toward more regulation and requirements of the insurance industry and a greater role for programs like Medicare.
Why would the GOP go along with that, when their health solution is to eviscerate government programs and regulation and to propose savings accounts (which largely act as tax shelters for people who already have sufficient health coverage)?
The AARP has it all wrong. It’s not that the representatives of the parties are bickering — it’s that they’re standing up for their positions, and the status quo is preferable to each than the other party’s solutions. As long as both parties have significant power, don’t expect any change to the status quo.
Ground Zero:
This year, it is exceptionally unlikely that the Republicans will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives (we have two GOP seats just in
In fact, in part due to Tom Udall’s strong campaign, there’s probably a better chance of Dems getting to a filibuster-proof 60 votes than there is the GOP getting to 51 seats. That’s an important part of ending the current gridlock, and the GOP minority has filibustered more bills than any other minority in history.
That leaves the White House as the Republicans’ last chance to preserve divided government and the status quo for the next few years.
There’s one way, and one way only, to make the big changes this country needs. And that’s to give the Dems a chance to at least undo some of the massive damage wrought from one-party control under the GOP from 2000-2006 (minus the few months right after Jim Jeffords abandoned the GOP for becoming too extreme).
The chance of Dems pushing through an entire liberal agenda in two or four years is still going to be slim. Giving Dems in
This year, we need to buck the trend and ask the mavericks, independents, moderates and other advocates of gridlock to get the status quo back to good by working for a Democratic White House to match the Democratic Congress.
When things get more in balance, then the trendies can advocate for gridlock again.
Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME in