The Benefits of United Republican Government, Part 1
Many people who are politically right of center have expressed the view that their agenda is better served by divided government compared to united Republican government.
Just to get our terms straight, I define divided government as existing when one political party controls one of the political power bases (The White House, the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate), while the other political party controls the other two political power bases. For example, the 8 years of the Reagan Presidency was a period of divided government because the Democrats controlled the US House during that entire period and controlled the US Senate during its final two years.
The Democrats enjoyed united government under their party's control during the fist 14 years of the FDR-Truman years, all 8 of the JFK-Johnson years, all 4 of the Carter Presidency and the first 2 of the Clinton Presidency.
Except for the first 2 years of the Eisenhower Presidency, the Republican party had not enjoyed united Republican government under their party's control in the post New Deal era until 2001, when the United States Senate was controlled by the GOP due to Vice President Dick Cheney's ministerial role as President of the Senate. But, that period of united Republican government lasted less than 5 months and ended when Jim Jeffords, a Republican Senator from Vermont, changed parties and handed the Senate to Democrats. In the mid-term elections of 2002 the Republicans regained control of the United States Senate and, thus, another period of united Republican government began.
I believe that united Republican government better serves the interests of people who are politically right of center than does divided government and I will explain why this is so in part 2 of this post.
Just to get our terms straight, I define divided government as existing when one political party controls one of the political power bases (The White House, the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate), while the other political party controls the other two political power bases. For example, the 8 years of the Reagan Presidency was a period of divided government because the Democrats controlled the US House during that entire period and controlled the US Senate during its final two years.
The Democrats enjoyed united government under their party's control during the fist 14 years of the FDR-Truman years, all 8 of the JFK-Johnson years, all 4 of the Carter Presidency and the first 2 of the Clinton Presidency.
Except for the first 2 years of the Eisenhower Presidency, the Republican party had not enjoyed united Republican government under their party's control in the post New Deal era until 2001, when the United States Senate was controlled by the GOP due to Vice President Dick Cheney's ministerial role as President of the Senate. But, that period of united Republican government lasted less than 5 months and ended when Jim Jeffords, a Republican Senator from Vermont, changed parties and handed the Senate to Democrats. In the mid-term elections of 2002 the Republicans regained control of the United States Senate and, thus, another period of united Republican government began.
I believe that united Republican government better serves the interests of people who are politically right of center than does divided government and I will explain why this is so in part 2 of this post.
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