Divided We Govern

           After watching President Obama in last week’s State of the Union layout what is likely the Democratic blueprint for next year’s presidential race and listening to the legislative agenda of the Republicans who now have complete control of Congress, this congressional session could well be meaningful and productive.

Why would this occur after six years of rancor between the White House and Republicans? For one reason: the government is divided.

            Obama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) need each other, if they want to accomplish progress on critical issues such as minimum wage, healthcare, immigration, transportation infrastructure, etc.

            Even the political calculations – as the two parties’ angle for voter advantage in 2016 – are such that they have to work together. Perhaps it’s the hyper speed of our technology or the sluggish economic growth, but the old way of politics, of putting off needed legislation until the time is opportune politically, appears no longer wise or practical.

            Over the last 60 years some real progress in America has been achieved because of divided government, and by this I mean one party holds the White House and the other both houses of Congress.

            Still, divided government has often been confrontational more than compatible.

Happier times at the Capitol: A snowball fight in 1930.

 

In 1947-49, the Republican-controlled 80^th Congress, which Democratic President Harry Truman called the “Do Nothing Congress,” sought to roll back New Deal legislation such as Social Security that was enacted between 1933 and 1946 by Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic-controlled Congresses. The GOP also rejected Truman’s Fair Deal legislative agenda. After serving in the minority for 14 years, during which time labor made great strides, the GOP was eager to re-shape the national agenda for business.

            The Republicans passed many pro-business bills and looked for ways of undoing the New Deal, but they had miscalculated in their political strategy. Not only did it ruin their chance to take the White House after 16 years of Democratic control – Truman won handily despite polls’ and pundits’ predictions to the contrary – they lost control of Congress to the Democrats for another four years. Republicans took power again with Dwight Eisenhower’s election to the presidency in 1952, but lost it again in the mid-term two years later.

            As supreme allied commander during World War II, Eisenhower understood the need to work with people you disagree with. He easily grasped the congressional Republicans’ folly, and he knew that the overwhelming majority of Americans favored the New Deal because those programs improved their lives. The agenda of the extreme elements in his party left him wary.   

            On Nov. 8, 1954, a week after the GOP lost Congress in the mid-term election, Eisenhower said, “Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things ... Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

Working to accomplish great things with those you don’t always agree with in post-war Berlin, June 5, 1945: General Eisenhower with England’s Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery on his left and on his right, General Georgy Zhukov of the U.S.S.R. and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny of France. (Bundesarchiv Berlin)

           Divided government set in once again, but this time the two sides worked together. The Democratic-controlled 84th Congress of 1955-57 worked with the Republican president and accomplished significant pieces of legislation such as the Air Pollution Control Act, at the time establishing just an information role for the federal government but which started the government on the road toward eventually adopting more comprehensive laws for clean air, water and soil. The Democratic Congress and Eisenhower passed and enacted the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which, at the time, launched the largest public works project in history, creating thousands of jobs and transforming the American road system and economy – all those new highway systems needed cars as well as businesses to serve the tired and hungry motorists.

           According to a biography of the president by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, “Eisenhower favored a more moderate course, one that he called Modern Republicanism, which preserved individual freedom and the market economy yet insured that government would provide necessary assistance to workers who had lost their jobs or to the ill or aged, who through no fault of their own, could not provide for themselves. He intended to lead the country "down the middle of the road between the unfettered power of concentrated wealth . . . and the unbridled power of statism or partisan interests."

           “As President, Eisenhower thought that government should provide some additional benefits to the American people. He signed legislation that expanded Social Security, increased the minimum wage, and created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He also supported government construction of low-income housing but favored more limited spending than had Truman.”

            Divided government continued with the 85th Congress, and Eisenhower and the Democrats produced such legislation as the first civil rights act since the 1860s, paving the way for subsequent legislation bolstering civil rights, and the National Aeronautics and Space Act that created NASA, launching the space age. 

            For the next 25 years, the Democrats controlled Congress, through Democratic and Republican presidents. Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 brought the Republicans control of the Senate, which they held for six years, but in 1987 Democrats were again in control of Congress while Republicans held the White House into the presidency of President George H.W. Bush. Once again, significant legislation is passed including the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991, launching the Internet age.

                       President Eisenhower with a future U.S. president, George H.W. Bush

 

           Voters seem to prefer divided government, but they gave single-party control of the two branches another try with the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1992, but two years into Clinton’s term Republicans gained control of Congress. In the ensuing years we’ve had periods of divided government, but congress hasn’t been as productive or successful as it was during the presidencies of Eisenhower and H.W. Bush.

            Now we have another divided government. If Obama and the Republicans can succeed in making real progress that satisfy some of the nation’s concerns then voters may start to realize that a divided government may be the best way to get things done. This could be particularly so if places where the government is also divided, Pennsylvania (Democratic governor, GOP legislature) and Maryland (Republican governor, Democratic legislature) are also successful in working together to move things forward.     

            And if that is how voters think as they go into the ballot booth – and granted, this requires some complex thinking but voters are capable of it – then the parties’ political cognoscenti will have to worry about which party the voters favor for the White House (Democrat or Republican) and for Congress (Republican or Democrat).