The Beauties of Divided Government

Law and disorder on Capitol Hill

You know you’re an incurable optimist when…..

…you can look at the circus of the stars masquerading as Congress and feel warm fuzzies because it is a terrific example of the government working (or not working) just as the Founders envisioned.

I was as bad as anyone else back in the heady 80s and early 90s: if only we conservatives could get control of the legislative branches of government, then, then we would do things differently. And for about 18 months Newt Gingrich waged an idealistic and ideological campaign just like the one so many conservatives had imagined. And then human nature set in, and the corruption of power slowly began to eat away at the soul of the Republican Party. When things got too far the natural equilibrium swung back and the Democrats took control of the House and Senate. Believe it or not, I think we are better off for it.

I know that is hard to believe watching the travesty of the Petraeus hearings, the weird and annoying histrionics of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the predictable drunken thunderings of Ted Kennedy, or the vapidity of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some conservatives have had a ball lambasting the inability of the Congress to accomplish much of anything. But they should be cheering it. That’s the whole point of the concept!

Perhaps the most profoundly damaging stretch of American History - except for the Civil War – was the New Deal. FDR turned America from a free-market dynamo to a semi-socialist welfare state in a decade. He was able to do this because he had such solid Democratic control over both Houses of Congress that he could pass whatever legislation he wanted, and eventually could intimidate the Supreme Court into abdicating its responsibility.

Leap forward to the 60s. LBJ’s Great Society, which deepened our socialist infrastructure and our welfare mentality, was also made possible by a unified Executive and Congress. I tell you, bad things happen when there is unity of control. It would be easy to say that is only a problem when the left is in control, but that would be wrong. We have just seen what happens when the right – sort of – is in charge. It is the dynamic that is the problem, not the party in charge.

We all take it for granted that the Founders were brilliant in devising a functional separation of powers. The natural jealousies and guarding of prerogatives of contending branches help keep everybody reined in. But why is it not as important to have an ideological separation of power? In the frightening scenario of a unified left in charge of all three branches of government, I am not sure that I would be very comfortable relying on the separation of branches to protect us.

When I look back at perhaps the most successful era for modern conservatives – the Reagan Era – I see what I have come to believe is the ideal model: a Democrat House, a Republican Senate, and a conservative President. In that scenario the strong Executive could exert independent reach in foreign policy. The House could spend all day seeking to raise taxes, but the Senate’s natural inability to get anything done combined with its natural bottlenecking tendencies and affinity for the Executive would steer things naturally in a conservative direction.

Even the much hyped Clinton years were successful largely because it coupled a strong Executive with a strong Congress of the opposite party. Sure, there were some bad things going on, but there were also some good ones. And a whole lot of really bad ideas never even got off the ground.

I know it sounds wacky, but I think I will do my part in 2008 to ensure a divided government. I think our best chance is a Giuliani or Thompson Presidency, a Democratic Senate, and a Republican House. The biggest problem with that scenario is that the Senate could bottle up some judicial nominees. But with another four years to work with I wouldn’t be too concerned about that.

I will do what I can to make that happen. But I will not, repeat: not, vote for Al Franken for Senate in order to make it happen. I’m the type of guy willing to sacrifice for the cause, but that is just too far!

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