Have you noticed how our country seems to have divided into two factions with names like left/right, Republican/Democrat, conservative/liberal and MAGA/ progressive? The result is a dysfunctional government at almost every level, crime, open borders, culture wars and a slow erosion of democracy. Government agencies are weaponized against those who stray from the narrative and racial and gender tensions that only divide us are being stoked. Where did this start? Perhaps it was the fault of our Founding Fathers? Actually, no.
In 1787, when delegates to the Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia to hash out the foundations of a new Constitution, they omitted political parties altogether. George Washington ran unopposed to win our first presidential election. John Adams warned that a “division of the republic into two great parties – is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” Their theory was that if power were concentrated and a partisan majority took control of the government, it would use its power to oppress the minority. This was how previous republics had fallen into civil wars, and the framers wanted to learn from history.
Despite their concerns, the United States did split into parties or factions and appeared to function adequately for many years. The three branches of government appeared to provide the necessary checks and balances through the late 1990s. During this time, the American political system had evolved into a four-party system: liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans alongside liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats. This allowed for all kinds of deal making and a somewhat functional government.
Starting in the early 2000s, national politics started re-aligning into a two-party system. Liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats became extinct. We largely started voting for the party, not the candidate, and candidates had to get in line with the party brand. Today, we are a fully divided, two-party system with no overlap and no ability to see the smallest amount of good in the other party’s ideas – an outcome the framers feared the most.
The checks and balances provided by the separation of powers are eroding. Congress has no room to compromise, and its stonewalling leads to a president using executive authority to conduct policy, which strengthens the presidency. This hyperpartisanship also leads to the judicial branch resolving all disagreements. This makes Supreme Court and other judicial nominations political, further strengthening the presidency while weakening the judicial branch. The presidential election therefore becomes a partisan, nasty, winner-takes-all game that concentrates power in one branch of the government. America has become the dreaded, divided republic that is breaking the system of government the Founders worked so hard to put in place.
How does all this manifest itself? The party divisions, aided by social media, have percolated down to local government and communities. At the national level, we the people would like to see reasonable middle ground on abortion, guns, crime, the border, inflation and the culture wars. Instead, we have extreme views embraced on both sides, and our leaders are unable to put the interests of the country, the state or our community ahead of party loyalty or self-interests. We have completely forgotten that we are a representative democracy, and, regardless of how we personally feel or the pressure from our party, we should be representing the majority view of our constituents.
In our IOP community of 4,000 dwellings, we look for reasons to divide – not unite. A consistent group of local leaders vote their self-interests as opposed to the majority view of their constituents. Witness the overwhelming citizen support for short-term rental limitations in the community and the two-lane exit on the Connector, and watch some of our leaders scorn their constituents and put their self-interests or personal beliefs ahead of the people they represent. On the other hand, visit preserveiop.org to see an example of we the people in action.
What can we the people do? Look at a candidate’s record and vote for the candidate – not the party, faction or group. Vote for those who have the guts to propose an agenda they believe in that does not pander to the talking points of their party. Be skeptical about those standing for re-election. Many of our issues stem from our tendency to favor incumbents. Study their voting record and results achieved, not their campaign ads or social media posts. Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and others at the national level and Lindsey Graham at the state level are examples of incumbency winning over competence. The IOP Council has several incumbents running in November, some with dismal voting records. Study them. The framers of our Constitution wanted we the people to be in charge. So let’s take charge of this hot mess and live up to the hopes they had for us.
Reddy or Not represents the opinion of Lucky Dog Publishing owner Rom Reddy but not necessarily that of the newspaper. In keeping with the paper’s philosophy of publishing all opinions, the publisher welcomes responses, which must be limited to 300 words and will be published on a space-available basis.