Want bipartisan government again? Try this

Pundits prattle profusely about political polarity, gridlock, and how divided the United States is. But the country wasn’t mired in gridlock in 1968.

Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) was the sitting president.  He had been elected in a landslide.  After this historic victory, Democrats enjoyed majorities of 68-32 in the Senate and 295-140 in the House of Representatives.  Democrats controlled the House from 1933 to 1995, excepting 1947–1949 and 1953–1955, and the Senate from 1933–1981 with the same exceptions.

Important bipartisan legislation was implemented during this period.  In 1965, Democrats were the party of Jim Crow and segregation.  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed the House with 153 Democrat votes.  Without 136 Republican votes, the legislation would have failed.  In the Senate, only 47 Democrats voted for the bill, which would have died in filibuster without the support of 30 Republican senators.  Republicans have always been, and continue to be, the party of civil rights, liberty, and democracy.

During this era, Republicans supported important legislation and otherwise fulfilled the role of loyal opposition.  The collaborative government the pundits pine for exists when one party dominates.

Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, and things changed.  Republicans gained nine Senate seats and control of the Senate, 53-46.  Reagan had the audacity to challenge the big government spending spree Democrats had pursued for half a century.  In 1994, Republicans gained control of the House, continuing the challenge.  Democrats were losing the debate.

Democrats asked themselves why Americans would support the crass conventions of conservatism.  The answer was revealed by liberal intellectuals, adopted by Democrat politicians, and delivered by the media: conservatives are uneducated, misinformed dolts clinging to religion, guns, and the white patriarchy.

Rather than counter their thick-headed opponents in the marketplace of ideas, Democrats have adopted a scorched earth policy to destroy conservatism by corrupting America’s institutions.  Senator Ted Cruz writes (Unwoke, 2023, Regnery Publishing, page 26), “The radical Left has systematically seized control of the organs of the transmission of ideas,” including education, journalism, Big Tech, and entertainment.

This seizure has been accomplished in plain sight, while the American people watched and many Republican politicians slept.  The Democrat party has removed itself from the mainstream, pushing a woke ideology that Cruz calls “cultural Marxism,” defined as “a never-ending struggle between victims and oppressors that can only be corrected through force by the government’s punishing the oppressors and rewarding the victims.”

The purpose of American government should be to ensure the liberty of the people authorizing it to engage in just pursuits.  This isn’t sufficient for Democrats.  They insist that those they ordain as victims have rights that supersede those of oppressors.  Democrats use the institutions they control to disseminate propaganda to re-educate Americans.  They are changing America into a fraternal cult.  To obtain membership, you must recite the dogma, use proper pronouns, and pledge fealty.  If you refuse to submit, you are punished.

Donald Trump is now in the punishment phase.  His crimes began when he had the audacity to run for public office and declare that he would limit Democrat control of the government by “draining the swamp.”  To counter his candidacy, Democrats planted a phony story with their allies in the press and FBI suggesting that Trump was a Russian spy.  He was elected despite this nonsense but was impeached twice and hounded by the press at every turn.

After leaving office, Trump was charged with crimes in federal, state, and county courts.  The State of New York convicted Trump of inflating the value of property used as collateral for bank loans and fined him $500 million.  Deutsche Bank testified that loans to Trump were “a good credit decision.”  How can there be a crime without a victim?  The DOJ has filed charges against Trump for mishandling classified documents but found no reason to file charges against Joe Biden, who illegally removed classified documents for decades.  The district attorney of Atlanta paid her lover exorbitant wages to indict Trump on absurd charges normally reserved for Mafia bosses.  These carefully crafted charges are orchestrated by Democrats to bring down a political opponent.

Political conflict is the cornerstone of democracy.  That conflict should be resolved by debate and elections, not indictment and punishment of opponents.  Democrats must be defeated and the institutions they’ve corrupted disinfected.

Image via Pxhere.