The academic world is blaming Republicans for the grid lock
in Congress. A prime example is Norman
Ornstein and Tomas Mann in their book, It's
Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With
the New Politics of Extremism. They
argue that the problem in Congress today is that the Republicans will not make
compromise. They say that the
Republicans oppose everything the President has done. They say that the President’s health care
plan should have had some Republican votes.
This week we saw
one of the people I would bet they liked, and who occasionally supported the
President, Richard Lugar loses to a tea party candidate Richard Mourdock. There are many reasons Lugar lost including
his age 80, the fact that he had not really livid in Indiana for years, and he
never took his opponent seriously until it was too late. Mourdock is no doubt more conservative than
Lugar and if he wins will make it hard for compromise to take place.
Here is what I see.
Ornstein and Mann are right that the Republicans no longer want
compromise. Every compromise I have seen
in the last 20 years has been to spend more, tax more or both. The conservatives on economics have had
enough. The Tea Party has had enough. They are electing people who really want to
cut the size and scope of government. They are electing conservatives on
politicians.
For a professional who believes in governance the idea of a
Conservative party means that government must work more efficiently, with fewer
resources. For many in the establishment
and professionals like Ornstein the only way to govern is by compromise.
The Republican electorate is more conservative and voting
that way. We are never going to see the
politics of past since comprise is mostly gone.
What replaces this will tell us what kind of Country we will have.
