Milling & Baking News - September 20, 2022 - 28

TUES | 09 20 2022
Is America a house divided?
BY ROBBIN JOHNSON
A
braham Lincoln famously said
that a house divided against itself
cannot stand. A recent Economist
article argued the United States no longer
is so united, with clear lines defining red
and blue states. Moreover, the article
argued that fringe elements in both the
Republican and Democratic national parties
push issues that pull their respective
representatives further apart. Is this
where America is heading?
America is not as divided as it looks,
but its politics increasingly are. On the
one hand, the number of states where one
party controls both legislative houses and
the governor's mansion has doubled over
the past 30 years - to 37 from 19. Oneparty
rule undermines governing from
a more unified middle ground in several
ways: (a) it often eliminates the need to
compromise with the other party's views;
(b) it promotes an agenda of cultural or
symbolic issues - like guns and abortion
or transgender and racial issues - over
more traditional governance concerns
like taxation and spending; and (c) it fosters
gerrymandering of voting districts to
ensure self-perpetuating control.
This phenomenon is not limited to one
party. Of the 37 one-party states, 23 are
Republican and 14 are Democratic. We
have seen it in voting patterns in Washington,
where one party unanimously
supports or opposes a particular bill. The
so-called Inflation Reduction Act recently
cleared the Senate with Vice President
Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking
vote that was totally along party lines.
On the other hand, the citizenry is not as
divided as this data and related behaviors
would suggest. A large collection of opinion
polls consistently show that 60% or more
of Americans agree on a wide variety of
issues - including " hot button " social issues
like abortion, gun control, immigration and
racial equity. On more traditional concerns
like health care, taxation, poverty relief,
international trade and the federal budget,
agreement can climb to 70% or 80%.
A University of Maryland report
28 MILLING & BAKING NEWS
released in 2020 identified 150 issues on
which most Republicans and Democrats
agree. These included items of interest to
agriculture, such as increasing funding
for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) and rejoining the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. It seems the
people are not nearly as divided as are
their political leaders or the many media
voices promoting divisions.
American federalism, embedded in
the US Constitution, reserves to the states
powers not specifically enumerated for
the national government. Though this
approach may promote " laboratories of
democracy " among the states, politicians,
especially those in one-party states, can
use this brand of federalism as an electioneering
weapon. For example, states
may adopt differing policies on social or
cultural issues and then use those differing
policies as political wedges to advance
narrow causes. The result may nullify the
economic and social advantages America
has enjoyed as a continental-wide market.
At its most extreme, states can attempt
to punish individuals or companies that
comply with other states' rules on sensitive
issues like abortion, gender identity,
immigration or sustainability.
We have seen West Virginia refuse to
deal with banks that will not loan to coal
companies, Florida punish Disney over
sexual identity issues and several states
punishing people who go out of state to
avoid the local abortion ban. This looks
like partisanship carried to an extreme.
At the national level, the single issue that
has put this " house divided " question
most clearly in the public eye is the contested
2020 presidential election. The Jan.
6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and the subsequent
Jan. 6 Committee investigation
have kept the dispute alive while changing
few minds. Donald Trump's insistence
that the election was stolen and the
revenge he has sought politically on those
who voted for his second impeachment
have fanned the flames of division while
also ensuring that 8 of those 10 congress
members will not be re-elected.
Not to be outdone, some progressive
strategists are doubling down on this
divisiveness by pouring money into
Republican primary races in support of
Trump-favored candidates. Their hope is
that this will result in Republican candidates
that Democratic nominees will find
it easier to defeat in the general election.
Not surprisingly, such behaviors have
eroded the public's trust in the integrity
of their elected officials. Polls consistently
show that only one in five Americans
trust the federal government to do the
right thing. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the
Jan. 6 Committee, attempted to address
her fellow Republicans on this point when
she said that " a day will come when Donald
Trump is gone from politics but your
conduct will remain to be scrutinized. "
Her reward was a crushing primary
defeat by a Trump-favored candidate.
The New York Times commentator Ross
Douthat also addressed this issue when he
questioned whether President Joe Biden
and other Democrats really believe their
" crisis-of-democracy " rhetoric in view of
their efforts to keep Trump as the figurehead
of the Republican party.
At the heart of this gap between the electorate
and its elected officials is the question
of integrity. Interestingly, the word
integrity has related but slightly different
meanings when applied to individuals and
when applied to geographic entities like
America. For individuals, integrity is " the
quality of being honest and having strong
moral principles. " For a country it is " the
state of being whole and undivided. " It may
be that upholding the territorial integrity
of the United States may turn on restoring
personal moral uprightness and integrity
to American politics. MBN
Robbin S. Johnson is a
contributing editor at
Sosland Publishing Company.
bakingbusiness.com
WASHINGTON update
©LUCKY-PHOTO - STOCK.ADOBE.COM
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
Milling & Baking News - September 20, 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News - September 20, 2022
