Jamestown Post-Journal
Political Differences As American As Apple
Pie
JAN 1, 2022
ROLLAND KIDDER
Back in
1964, when the Republicans ran Barry Goldwater for President, the Chad Mitchell
Trio came out with a song describing (somewhat cryptically) the Republican
Party. Here are a few of the lyrics:
[Let’s go] back to the silver standard and solid Goldwater…
Let’s go back to the days when men were men
and start the First World
War all over again
[Let’s
go] back to when the poor were poor, and rich were rich
and you
felt so damn secure just knowin’ which were which!
Okay,
it was a bit “over-the-top” but, nevertheless,
it highlighted the fact that, at the national level, the Republican Party was
not the Party of change. The themes of: “Let’s keep things the
way they are, or, even better, ‘go back’ to who we used to be”–were
as Republican then as they are now. It is the Democratic Party, at least since
FDR and the Great Depression, that has been the party of change in Washington.
Case in
point, the recent one-house passage, with no Republican support, of the
Biden “Build Back Better” legislation. Though
not given a large mandate in the last election and, though in control of
Congress by only the “skin of their teeth,” Democrats
pushed this through the House of Representatives. It should have been no
surprise that a fellow Democrat, Joe Manchin, Senator from a conservative state
like West Virginia, would have problems with the bill–but they passed it anyway
in the House.
The
politics going on here should not surprise anyone. ”
Radical ideas” like Social Security and Medicare (financial assistance
and health care for the elderly) were Democratic initiatives. There were
outcries at the time that such programs would bankrupt the country and drive us
into socialism. Though, in those days, there were some Republican votes for
these programs–it was the Democratic Party that proposed and largely provided
the bulk of “yes” votes to make them law.
Yet,
Republicans have correctly assessed the reality that the electorate in our
country is generally conservative in its thinking, and when people want change,
it takes place incrementally and very slowly. Harry Truman in the 1950’s and
Ted Kennedy in the 1980’s couldn’t make headway with healthcare legislation. It
wasn’t until 30 years later, under Barack Obama, that the matter really got
addressed in any meaningful way. Today, as “Obamacare” has
become more accepted in the country, you see (as with Social Security and
Medicare) fewer Republicans attacking it.
Another
reality is that every time the Democrats push for social change, they usually
suffer for it in the next election…and so this doesn’t portend well for them in
the 2022 elections. I would expect that the coming year will be a good one for
Republicans.
I will
say this though for Democrats, when they try to create new programs, they at
least are honest enough to include revenue and tax measures to help pay for it,
as reflected in this most recent bill where they proposed raising taxes on
billionaires and corporations. Republican reaction to all of this has been to
again “bang the drum” that Democrats are
the “tax and spend” Party. Democrats
counter that Republicans have become the “borrow and spend” Party.
Though
they still maintain the political “high ground” of
being resistant to change, when it comes to spending money–Republicans have
shown that they are as good at that as Democrats. And, who was the last
President to have a balanced budget? That was Bill Clinton. His political
affiliation? Let’s not get into that.
Differing
views on politics remain as American as apple pie. To everyone, no matter what
your political persuasion–thanks for reading these articles and have a Happy
New Year!
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