Under the banner of ideological purity, the Tea Party crusade has struck down potential compromise after potential compromise. With repeated success in Republican Party primaries, the Tea Party has cleansed the Republican Party of incumbents who held moderate political views and bi-partisan voting records. While the Tea Party has taken purification to new extremes, the process of purification has gone through seven phases beginning in the late 19th century against a backdrop of the Civil War and Reconstruction in the South.
High school civics textbooks define "Politics" as "the art of the possible." Historically, politicians got the best deal for their constituents (sometimes themselves) that they could get based on their seniority, personal charm, and street smarts. Making a political deal was always ideologically impure even when everyone involved was honest and the process was transparent. Parts of some ideological principles were always sacrificed in order to move the country toward a larger goal-sometimes simply to maintain a functional government, e.g. raise the debt ceiling, revive a struggling economy or avoid social chaos.
For over a century from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, both Parties had members with diverse, often opposing, political ideologies. The diversity in both the Democratic and Republican Parties required accommodation and compromise for either Party to govern. The majority party could not depend on all its members voting the "party line." Moderates of both Parties had political power because they were willing to cross the aisle. Their swing votes strongly influenced legislation in Washington and in state capitols.
Intra-party ideological diversity was fostered by a three-way split in the electorate between Republicans, Democrats and Independents. While it has varied year by year, since the Great Depression about a third of voting age Americans identify themselves as Democrats--slightly more than Republicans. The Republican Party has generally drawn its support from rural, suburban, upper middle class families and WASPS (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). Demographically, Democrats have tended to be urban, working class or poorer and included most minorities, Catholics, Jews and recent immigrants. Until 1980, southerners had been Democrats because the Republic Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln who had freed the slaves. For the same reasons Blacks usually voted Democratic-if they voted at all. (Before the Voting Rights Act of 1964, Negroes in the South faced substantial barriers to voting.) In recent years the largest group of American voters (~40%) identify themselves as Independents. Republicans have won their share of elections by getting better voter turnout of their supporters and sometimes attracting more than half of the Independents.
In Congress, Democratic Party leaders had to get moderate northern Republicans or accommodate conservative southern Democrats (Dixiecrats) or both to pass legislation. Even when they held the majority, Republican Party leaders had to woo the Dixiecrats to break a filibuster by northern Democrats.
Passive Republic Presidents and the excesses of the wealthy elite in the 1920s, lead to the Great Depression and a strong leftward shift to the liberal policies of Franklin Roosevelt. Government involvement in American society increased dramatically as Roosevelt fought the Great Depression and World War II.
In a brilliant political move after the War, the minority Republican Party nominated the military hero of World War II and a political moderate. General Eisenhower was President for eight, mostly quiet and prosperous, years.
Eight years later in 1960, the Democrats nominated a charismatic young Catholic with an exciting military record and new ideas for the nation. With Lyndon Johnson, a southern conservative Vice Presidential candidate, who had initiated the popular Interstate Highway system, on the ticket, Kennedy held southern Democrats and got just enough votes from Independents to squeak into the White House. He moderated Roosevelt's promise that government would help those in need. Kennedy said: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country!"
After Kennedy's assassination, a traumatized country united behind Lyndon Johnson. As a southern conservative Johnson galvanized all Democrat legislators and as a familiar former Senate Majority Leader, Johnson attracted moderate northern Republican legislators, primarily from urban states. He passed landmark social legislation on civil rights and Medicare. In 1964, the Republican Party nominated Senator Barry Goldwater, an arch conservative. Johnson trounced him.
Johnson's popularity declined as the war of choice he championed in Vietnam, became generally unpopular. Rather than be embarrassed by the revolt in his own party, Johnson decided not to run for re-election. His Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated but could not overcome the stigma of his early support for his President's war. Richard Nixon, Eisenhower's Vice President, who had lost to Kennedy eight years earlier, beat Humphrey by attracting independent voters. Another moderate Republican moved back into the White House.
With a Congressional coalition of majority Democrats and northern moderate Republicans, Republican Nixon passed landmark environmental legislation (National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act), created the Environmental protection Agency, and, in the biggest diplomatic maneuver of my lifetime, initiated a new relationship with China. Republicans couldn't criticize a President from their own Party and most Democrats thought it was a good idea. A Democratic President would not have dared to get cozy with a Communist country.
After Nixon was impeached for covering up criminal activity by his re-election campaign, Vice-President Gerald Ford became President. The moderate Republican Congressman from Michigan gently guided the country beyond the tragedies of Vietnam and impeachment.
In 1976, the Democrats held enough of the South by nominating Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter to win the Presidency back. His moderate ideology might have led to important domestic policies but the Arab Oil Embargo and Iran hostage crisis drained his political capital and destroyed his chances of re-election.
In 1980, Republicans ran the conservative and charismatic governor of California against a weak President Carter. Reagan won by pulling two blocks of voters out of the Democratic coalition. He attracted enough union members unhappy with Carter's economic policies, high gas prices and humiliation in Iran. He pulled enough conservative southern Democrats who no longer felt allegiance to a former Georgia governor.
Reagan's appeal in the South energized the Republican Party in those states and eventually the remaining Dixiecrats were defeated by Republican candidates for Senate, Congress, Governor, and on down. The movement of conservative southern Democratic voters to the Republican Party was PHASE ONE of the purification of the parties.
After two decades of dramatic domestic debates (civil rights, Medicare, environmental protection, women's rights, impeachment) and failed military adventures (Vietnam, Iran hostages), the country welcomed the elderly man with a contagious smile. Reagan's "new day in America" was getting the government out of the face of American businesses and into the face of foreign adversaries, especially the Soviet Union. He renewed the arms race with the Soviet Union. He threatened to build a "star wars" missile defense system. The Soviets might have decided that once the "star wars" defense was built, the U.S. would launch a nuclear first strike. That possibility might have motivated them to take their chances with a first strike of their own. Reagan took a big and dangerous gamble. The Soviets had a special paranoia, based on more than 20 million fatalities defending Russia from Hitler in WWII (U.S. casualties were under 1 million) and the earlier carnage of Russia by Napoleon in the 19th century. Reagan gambled that they would not launch their own first strike. Instead, they increased their deterrence capability with more nuclear warheads and upgrade their Warsaw Pact conventional forces poised against NATO forces in central Europe. Eventually the Soviets devoted 25% of the GNP of their inferior Communist economic system to national defense. Focusing so much of their energy and budget on defense bankrupted the country and caused the Soviet Union to disintegrate. The Berlin Wall went down and relations between the U.S. and USSR warmed. The threat of nuclear annihilation, that had been a very real backdrop to life for a generation, diminished dramatically. After high disapproval ratings half-way through his first term, Reagan became a hero for both his domestic economic policies and his successful facedown of the Soviets. Re-election was a cake walk
George H. Bush, Reagan's successor in 1988, continued most of Reagan's policies but did not expand them. As a northern moderate, he said he wanted "a kinder, gentler nation." He re-authorized the Clean Air Act, further developed the Chinese connection, and put together a solid international military coalition to push Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in the first Gulf War.
Because of a recession and a Third Party candidate, Bush #1 was defeated by another southern Governor. Bill Clinton described himself as a "New Democrat." He presented a moderate image of a pro-business (i.e. reduce regulations) Democrat who still cared about the little guy. He had been a little guy in a poor family in a poor town in Arkansas. Bush #1 came from a wealthy East Coast establishment family. With a "jobs" campaign, Clinton won back many of the Reagan Democrats--working class union members. However, Republicans considered him an illegitimate president because most of the votes cast for Perot, the third party candidate, would probably have gone to Bush. Besides, they felt the Presidency belonged to them: the Democrats had held the House since the big war; the Senate changed hands occasionally; and the Presidency belonged to the Republican Party.
The Republicans were sure they could beat Billy Boy the second time around if they made sure he didn't accomplish anything in his first term. Clinton's agenda on health care and other issues went nowhere in Congress.
In the mid-term elections of 1994, Newt Gingrich, an obscure Congressman from Georgia, organized campaigns in House seats held by Democrats that he thought were could be taken away. Gingrich's efforts were aided by the Moral Majority, a fundamentalist Christian movement with a conservative social agenda (anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, pro-school prayer). In a stunning reversal, Republicans won enough seats to take control of the House of Representatives. The first order of business for the new GOP majority was to elect Newt Gingrich, the architect of the "Contract with America" campaign, Speaker of the House.
Speaker Gingrich instituted a policy of no compromise with the minority Democrats. Bills would be hammered out in the Republican caucus. Once a majority of House Republicans agreed upon a draft of the bill, all Republican Representatives were expected to vote for it. There would be no amendments offered by Republicans and no consideration of amendments offered by Democrats. Gingrich's "majority of the majority" rule was PHASE TWO of purification of the parties. If you were a Republican, whether you liked a bill or not; you always voted with the Speaker on the floor. In Gingrich's "majority of the majority" system, moderates had no power. Previously, their votes were often pivotal. "Compromise" was put in hospice and all compromisers could do was mourn.
Gingrich and his "boys" overplayed their hand when they threatened to shut down Washington if they did not get their way.. The economy improved. Clinton was easily re-elected without the help of a third party candidate..
Then Clinton handled the Republicans a huge gift. He didn't control his testosterone and had oral sex with a White House intern. Ken Starr was appointed "Special Prosecutor" with unprecedented inquisition powers to investigate any part of the President's private or public behavior--before and during his Presidency. Although no connection was ever found between his "sinful" private behavior and his public decision-making, the conservative House of Representatives voted Articles of Impeachment. Senators of both parties were appalled--the Senate still contained northern moderate Republicans. The media had a feeding frenzy. The whole world was watching the U.S. House of Representatives humiliating their President-and leader of the Free World. As expected, the Senate refused to consider the Articles of Impeachment. The whole thing had been a spectacle designed to embarrass the President. (In subsequent years, several of the lead Congressional prosecutors, including Gingrich himself, were exposed to having had extramarital sexual affairs.)
In the early stages of the Ken Starr's inquisition, many Democrats distanced themselves from "Bill" and condemned his personal behavior. While they might have argued that his personal life was not an appropriate subject of discussion, they were embarrassed by it. However, the viciousness of the impeachment attacks and the unwillingness of House Republicans to compromise by censuring the President instead of impeaching him, ultimately united the Democratic Party. House Democrats voting for Republican bills became rare. On its way to the grave "compromise" became a dirty word on the Democratic side of the aisle as well as on Gingrich's side. Purification had entered PHASE THREE.
Republican George W. Bush's election itself caused PHASE FOUR of the purification of parties. The result of the 2000 election teethered on the counting of machine-damaged votes (chads) in Florida. The days of recounting and refusals to recount dragged from days into weeks without a clear winner. Partisan accusations flew and emotions flared. Because Democrat Al Gore failed to win his home state of Tennessee, the whole election came down to Florida. As in 1992, a third party candidate, this time Ralph Nader with the leftist Green Party, had siphoned enough votes from Gore to make the outcome uncertain. Eventually the Republican Florida Secretary of State and the U.S. Supreme Court with a majority of Justices appointed by Republican presidents, made the decision in favor of Bush. Democrats were united as victims of a stolen election. "Missing chad" votes were disproportionate thrown out in urban areas where Democrats typically got more votes..
Despite claims of collusion between George W. Bush and the manufacturer of the voting machines, the Florida election miscarriage was probably not Bush II's fault. However, Bush was responsible for picking Dick Cheney for Vice President-a uniquely contemptuous and contemptible power behind the throne. Bush II was also responsible for his swagger-a swagger that seemed more appropriate for a cowboy at a rodeo than a President dealing with domestic and international leaders--who would like to think that their ideas would be taken seriously. Few Democrats had that feeling during the Bush II Presidency. The policies, and especially the personalities of Bush II and Cheney further purified the Parties-PHASE V. Bush campaigned as "a compassionate conservative" but didn't act that way; Cheney governed as a vindictive autocrat. Democrats were united in opposition and disgust. The midterm elections of 2006 humbled an arrogant President and a trigger happy Secretary of Defense--Donald Rumsfeld. The election was a referendum on their signature policy, the "war of choice" in Iraq.
The House of Representatives returned to Democratic control. Nancy Pelosi from California was elected Speaker. While not a strict adherent to the Gingrich Rule of legislating with "a majority of the majority," Pelosi was overtly partisan and proud to be a generations-deep liberal. A strong national health care system was on top of her agenda. Discrediting, stopping and eventually dethroning Pelosi became a rallying cry for Republicans.
Meanwhile, the new President was naive; he believed he could bring bi-partisanship and civility back to Washington on the strength of his example and demeanor. Instead of coming into office in January of 2009 with a full draft of a health care policy and asking the Democratic majorities in Congressional Committees for speedy consideration, Obama asked them to work with their Republican colleagues to develop the legislation. By the time the committees got their act together (a generous characterization since bipartisan never developed), Republicans had regrouped from a broad scale 2008 defeat and a new political force, the Tea Party, had organized to the right of the Republican Party.
With the help of radio talk shows and the internet, ObamaCare became a symbol of how much harm could be done to American capitalism by left-wing ideologues. In just one year, after the 2008 defeat, conservatives were re-energized. Focused in opposition to "socialized medicine," Republicans had a strategy to take the House in 2010 (thereby getting rid of the first female Speaker); repeal ObamaCare in 2011, repeal Obama in 2012." Poor Presidential leadership, a divisive issue, and a Speaker who presented a big target, galvanized the conservatives in the Republican while further marginalizing Republican moderates-purification of the political parties PHASE SIX.
The final and probably the most important development in purification of the Parties has been the spontaneous and widespread development of the Tea Party. Their commitment is undeniable. Their rights are guaranteed. Their truths are self-verified.
They want to "Take America Back." Do they mean that they are the rightful owners of America? Has someone stolen it from them and they plan to get it back? To the overwhelming White and chronologically mature members of the Tea Party, the prospect of losing majority status is deeply disturbing. Thus, securing the borders and enforcing immigration laws are Tea Party hot-button issues. Certainly, immigration, legal and otherwise, has caused changes in U.S. demographics. The other cause of changing racial ratios is the decision of young White couples not to have many or any babies. However, it is not as easy to blame one's own children as it is to blame Spanish speaking illegal immigrants.
No one wants to be called a racist and few people think of themselves as racist. However, racism has been a defining issue in America for several hundred years. The election of a Black man did not erase racism. To some Tea Party members, having the country in the hands of a Black man means the U.S. has been taken away and needs to be returned to its rightful owners. Obama's Arabic middle name (Hussien) sealed the case according to the talk show zealots. According to Tea Party rhetoric, Barrack Hussien Obama plans to deliver Americ to Islam.
Some Tea Party members want to "take America back" to some set of conditions that existed in the past: perhaps a time of fewer regulations on businesses, perhaps less availability of abortion and family planning services in general; perhaps more regulations on sinful behavior, perhaps Christian symbols in public places, perhaps prayers in school, perhaps traditional definitions of marriage, perhaps no teaching of evolution or climate change in public schools, perhaps more prosecution of illegal aliens. Perhaps more aggressive exercise of military power, perhaps tougher trade policies. Surely less government, smaller deficits and lower national debt. Surely no expiration of Bush II's wartime tax cuts. Absolutely no other new taxes.
Of course, every Tea Party member assigns different weight to these issues. Clearly, not all Tea Party members would favor all of the above public policies and want America to be taken back to all of them. There does seem to be one characteristic common to all Tea Party members. They believe that "compromise" is a dirty word-that compromise has gotten America into this mess. They believe that principles, not compromise, is the solution.
If compromise is a dirty word, then politicians who compromise are dirty. Since compromise is a moderate's political stock in trade, a moderate politician is dirty. In some ways an "unprincipled moderate" is more disgusting than a consistent leftist. In this framework, a Tea Party member might have more respect for an outspoken liberal Senator like Ted Kennedy than for any of the dwindling moderate Republican Senators. Those moderate Senators have dwindled as Tea Party candidates have outright beat them in Republican primaries or as the Tea Party has motivated them to retire by threatening to defeat them in such primaries.
The Tea Party has also run primary candidates against incumbent Republican Representatives and Republican Governors who they considered to be too moderate-too willing to compromise. Targeted incumbents have frequently been beaten in the Republican primary or decided not run for re-election. The success of Tea Party candidates in the general election has been mixed, which doesn't seem to bother them. Purity is more important than winning-a novel concept in politics which had previously been defined as "the art of the possible."
Having seen the power of the Tea Party in Republican Party primaries, few Republican office holders want to be stigmatized as a "compromiser." Most have signed the "No New Taxes Pledge" initiated by a single man, Grover Norquist, to limit the scope of government. His assertion, that a signer has violated the pledge, would be the kiss of death for many Republican incumbents.
In the few short years of PHASE SEVEN since 2009, the Tea Party, with the help from Norquist's "No New Taxes Pledge," has dramatically purified the Parties.
And it is not over. Purity is an ascending staircase to absurdity-and hopefully obscurity.
As a farmer, Lowell Klessig has been activate in local government and local civic organizations. He served 19 years on the Town of New Hope Planning Commission and currently serves on the Portage County Board of Adjustment. He organized the Town of New Hope Family Forest Alliance and served as its president for 10 years.
At the state level, he helped write the Wisconsin Lake Management Law, served as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Rural Leadership program, was active in numerous environmental groups and was involved in numerous political campaigns. He continues to served on the Scenic Wisconsin Board of Directors.
At the federal level, he was active in the Civil Rights Movement, the Environmental Movement, and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement. He worked in Senator Eugene McCarthy's 1968 successful campaign to convince Lyndon Johnson not to seek a second term as President. He ran for a Rep. Morris Udall delegate seat to the 1976 Democratic National Convention. He was active in Senator Kerry 2004 Presidential campaign and wrote editorials for Senator Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar