Partisanship in modern US politics

Yes, Trump had been impeached by the House - but what’s next? For the unaware, being impeached by the House does not mean that Trump is or will be removed from office. He is merely moved up the process of possible removal from office. Following the impeachment by the House, the Senate will be the crucial party in deciding if Trump will be removed from office but here’s the catch - the Senate is controlled by the Republicans and from past events, one can safely conclude that Trump will get away with it. This is not just a one-off issue - it is part of a critical issue that threatens the legitimacy of democracy in the US, one that the founding fathers desperately wanted to avoid - partisanship.

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion." - George Washington, "Washington's Farewell Address", 1796

Partisanship reflects the natural inclination of man to coalesce with others of similar goals and mindsets to form factions as a means to achieve said goals. Well, sure, this means that on the government level, ordinary people can be represented without having to partake in politics, but this assumption can only be true if every single individual can have their rights protected and views respected equally.

Yet, the politics of the US today echos loudly the fact that utopia can never exist. As people get elected and unite together into political parties, differences fade and politicians focus on several common goals - a wonderful narrative indeed but many times, these differences that "fade away" are precisely the reasons why these politicians are elected into office, to represent the minority groups - who are different - that chose them and to have these differences forgotten is a blatant stab on their backs.

Back to Trump - with a Republican-controlled Senate, it is difficult to imagine Trump being removed from office. Trump managed to escape the Mueller investigations unscathed and it is highly likely that he will do so again. We are in an era where political loyalty takes precedence over what one actually stands for, where one can ignore the facts presented or twist them to support their cause.

And this is why it is scary to see this trend over and over again. Back in Obama's term, the Congress was controlled by Republicans, first, the House in 2011 and then adding the Senate to the list in 2014, and this period was marked by a lack of cooperation between the congress and the President. Many of the policies created during his tenure were a result of executive orders (DACA, climate change etc) when it was clear that bipartisanship was not going to work. This resulted in slower policymaking as policies fail to make it pass politically motivated debates in Congress and this was the key reason for the government shutdown in 2013.

This inefficiency can also be translated into irresponsible decision making - Brett Kavanaugh, a man accused of sexual assault, was confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court despite having gone through hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee where details of his misdeed were revealed. By disregarding the facts laid out and repeatedly questioning the statements made by the victim, the Senate had portrayed itself as not an institution that "feel confidence enough in its own situation, to preserve unawed and uninfluenced, the necessary impartiality between an individual accused, and the representatives of the people, his accusers?" (Alexander Hamilton writing about the Senate's role in impeachment in Federalist 65, 1788) but rather one that is motivated by its own position in the country and the needs of the party.

However, this is not to say that the Democrats are innocent as members of the party including Michael Avenatti had echo sentiments of "taking revenge", hitting the Republicans down when the Democrats get in power.

Clearly, the politics in the US have devolved into a less representative and a less respected institution. Many times, we see political parties fighting for what they think is right for the country but not necessarily what the country needs. Some individuals are motivated by their political ambitions rather than their accountability towards their constituents and this has led to the political scene we see today. This is not to say that political parties are bad - no, the US cannot devolve further into a one-party system, that will simply mean a totalitarian state, one that deprives its people the basic democratic and human rights. What the country needs is a political system that guarantees fair representation and politicians that care for the people, not merely how to stay in power or other selfish reasons.

"If we do not learn to sacrifice small differences of opinion, we can never act together. Every man cannot have his way in all things. If his own opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others preponderate at other times. Without this mutual disposition we are disjointed individuals but not a society." - Thomas Jefferson,1801

(Cover photo by Louis Velazquez)

By Eugene Goh