Politics As It Should Be

Townhall.com ^ | August 7, 2011 | Salena Zito

[Kaslin]

The recent debt debate was not politics at its worst or most dysfunctional.

It worked exactly as American politics was designed to work.

“Our system is about posturing, fighting, dealing and eventually compromising,” said Dr. Lara Brown, a Villanova University political scientist. “Overall, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell did what Henry Clay did –they structured a compromise, which gave Democrats time and Republicans principle.”

Clay was at the center of the Nullification Crisis of 1833, rooted in two bills placing high tariffs on imports; it protected Northern manufacturers but left the South unable to sell its raw materials.

South Carolina rebelled and passed legislation "nullifying" the federal legislation, meaning it would not enforce the tariffs.

If you think today’s political antics are over-the-top, they have nothing on John C. Calhoun. He resigned as President Andrew Jackson's vice president and got elected by the state legislature to a vacant U.S. Senate seat, in order to fight the tariffs.

Many Southerners believed President Jackson would side with them because he won a states-rights battle to end the charter of the Second Bank of the U.S.

Instead, he opposed them.

The House was considering the Force Bill, which would slash tariffs but also authorize Jackson to enforce tariffs in South Carolina. Yet it likely would have caused the North to rebel by hurting its manufacturing sector.

Clay worried that both sides were worsening the conflict with their posturing and rhetoric, so he stepped in. Although he preferred the Force Bill because it reduced tariffs immediately, he opposed it because Jackson favored it.

So he made a deal with Calhoun: When the Force Bill came up for debate, Clay proposed his own bill as an alternative. Much to everyone's surprise, Calhoun supported him.

With Calhoun on Clay’s side, Jackson's supporters came to the table, even though they did not support the bill.

The 1833 compromise looks much like what Boehner and McConnell structured in the past two weeks.

When Boehner walked out of negotiations with the White House, he essentially telegraphed his strategy to the country: He would work with the Senate (meaning McConnell and Majority Leader Harry Reid) to find the "sweet spot" of compromise.

Boehner eventually unveiled a bill and set it for a vote, to pressure Reid. “After all, the Senate had yet to pass any legislation to increase the debt limit and solve the problem,” said Villanova’s Brown, and “Boehner made it look like he had the votes.”

He knew his bill was to the left of what his caucus preferred, but he wanted to show Reid that he would try to win its passage. When the bill fell short on savings, it gave him a perfect opportunity to go back to Reid and push it further to the right.

He did that, then rescheduled the vote.

Boehner knew he needed to provide Reid and the president with an object lesson, because they didn’t believe he could push through a more moderate bill.

By delaying, negotiating and postponing, he won the good faith of Tea Party members, even if many would vote against him.

Critically, Boehner also worked to strengthen his hand – and this is where Washington’s conventional wisdom got it wrong. By displaying his own weakness, he showed the president that if he wanted a bill and wanted to avoid default, then he, too, needed to move further to the right.

Richard Brown, distinguished professor of history at the University of Connecticut, agrees that, many times in our history, similar boiling points eventually have led to great compromises.

The U.S. Constitution “is a perfect example,” he said. “So was the Force Deal, masterly resolved by Clay.”

Democracy isn’t about getting all of what you want – although you might think it is, from how the media framed the debt debate. UConn’s Brown laments the media using what he terms “the most polarizing experts available” to explain to Americans what was going on. And he points to an example of the failure to compromise: Lincoln's refusal to deal with the South on slavery following his election.

The newly formed Confederacy called his bluff, then Lincoln called the Confederacy's bluff – and the rest is history.

[kabar]

The MSM and the Dems don’t like divided government unless a Rep is in the WH. They would prefer the one party rule we had for Obama’s first two years. No compromises are needed.

[Bean Counter]

tah.....except in 1833, US Senators were chosen by the several State Legislatures, and both the Republican and Democrat parties were much different and less powerful than they are today.

The 17th Amendment changed all of that, effectively dealt the States completely out of the Federal Government that was designed to include the States interests as part of the “Checks and Balances” built into the original constitution. Now the US Senate answers exclusively to the Political parties and ignores not only the State’s interests but the interest of the people as well.

If we removed 90% of the money from Senatorial political reelection campaigns, just imagine what the private sector could do with it. If we limited the amount US Representatives could spend on campaigns, the Private sector would benefit immediately again.

We can not and should not continue to pay Congress Critters $170,000 (and up) per year, plus benefits and millions in retirement benefits. If we returned the Congress to the control of Citizens Legislators, that would be Politics as it was meant to be.....

[griswold3]

The left hates the truth. The truth is ‘as government expands, business contracts’.
We want prosperity for all. They want socialism for everyone but themselves.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Kaslin. The recent debt debate was not politics at its worst or most dysfunctional. It worked exactly as American politics was designed to work. "Our system is about posturing, fighting, dealing and eventually compromising," said Dr. Lara Brown, a Villanova University political scientist. "Overall, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell did what Henry Clay did -- they structured a compromise, which gave Democrats time and Republicans principle." Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[SunkenCiv]

Richard Brown, distinguished professor of history at the University of Connecticut... points to an example of the failure to compromise: Lincoln's refusal to deal with the South on slavery following his election.

What a monstrous lie. The so-called Crittenden Compromise wasn't a compromise -- it was a proposal to strengthen the hold of slaveholders on the lawmaking process, and amend the Constitution to prevent any further amendments. President-Elect Lincoln was being bombarded with that throughout the months after his election and before his swearing in, saying -- quite admirably, except to RINOs -- that he was elected based on the platform, and wasn't going to repudiate it in order to placate those who didn't vote for him in the first place (or even allow his name on the ballot; see, Democrat tactics have not change). Meanwhile, Ordinances of Secession were being passed prior to inauguration, and Democrats had prepared to murder Lincoln during a stop in Baltimore (so the train rolled right on through instead).

[Texas Eagle]

The newly formed Confederacy called his bluff, then Lincoln called the Confederacy's bluff – and the rest is history.

Uhhhhhhh....is Selena saying what I think she's saying?

"Politics as it should be" can only be resolved byyyyyyyyy.....

Let me read it again. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Texas Eagle]

Okay. Upon re-reading the piece, I see where I went wrong. Selena is saying Lincoln's REFUSAL to compromise led to the deaths of 600,000 Americans.

I revise my question: Selena, if "compromise" and "politics as it should be" is so all-fired wonderful, why didn't The Missouri Compromise and The Compromise of 1850 solve the issue of slavery?

By Lincoln's own admission, he was okay with continuing slavery in The U.S. if it kept The Union intact.

[CitizenM]

For the most part I agree with the author's viewpoint. However, the problem today is that we do not have a majority of honorable Congressional members who are knowledgeable in economics or business. We do not have a majority of people in Congress who have had actual working, building, productive experience beyond the isolated confines of their DC and home territory offices.

What we have are professional politicians who entered politics often straight from college (studying law or political science) as a career to get fame, fortune, and obtain power. They are only dedicated to those goals, not to the principle of serving their countryman as our forefathers' planned.

Our forefathers foresaw elections that offered representatives who were capable of providing the benefit of their hard earned experience in business, law, economics, international dealings, even health and education. It never was it intended that our country would be ruled by people who are so inexperienced and unaware as today's crop in Congress. That is why the recent debt crisis evolved, and why the members in Congress found it so difficult to come to some agreement that actually helped the country.

We are being led by people who, for the most part, make decisions based on ideals and theories they learned as sophomores in college. They have never tested the theories, they have never adjusted their ideals to address actual situations like a businessman faces. That is the trouble with the system working exactly as it was designed. The system is good, it is the parts (players) that are defective.

[4Liberty]

No Rat Budget...for 2 yrs? Really? And WHO'S creating the global uncertainty?

[Kaslin]

Actually it’s over 21/2 years

[Salena Zito]

It is Salena, says it in the article. Clay knew he was only holding off what was inevitable, he did the best that he could in very turbulent times. No solution is ever perfect, I never said his was, I never said Boehner’s was and I never said Lincoln’s was, nor did I ever say that Lincoln’s refusal to compromise lead to the deaths of 600K.

[Impy]

. If we returned the Congress to the control of Citizens Legislators, that would be Politics as it was meant to be.

Well having a handful career politicians state legislators appoint Senators sure as hell won't accomplish that. Just the opposite.