Written by Jim Welsh
The Wall that Divides Americans
There is a Wall far more important to the future of our country than any other which is rarely discussed but may well determine the future of the U.S. in coming decades. This Wall has been building for more than 35 years and likely won’t be dismantled until our country goes through the catharsis of a crisis.
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For amny months Americans have been torn by the debate between President Trump, who wants to build a wall on America’s southern border, and those who oppose it. The rancor and divisiveness generated by this debate serves as an apt metaphor for the other Wall that is far more important than the southern wall that dominates the daily news. Brick by brick ‘The Wall’ has been built based on many issues in addition to the southern wall and is clearly visualized by the second graphic below illustrating how polarized political discourse has become in the past 39 years.
After the election in 1980 that put Ronald Reagan in the White House, Congress was divided with the Republicans holding a majority in the Senate and the Democrats holding a larger plurality in the House. Although Democrats had control of the House in numbers, there were ‘Boll Weevil’ Democrats who supported President Reagan’s tax cuts, decrease in government regulation, increased military spending, but opposed any cuts in social welfare spending.
In 1980 the Democratic Party was spread across a wide political spectrum which stretched its base from left of +1 to the right of -1 on the X-axis. This wide political base overlapped a good portion of Republicans who were naturally right of center (0). This overlap led to compromise legislation between President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neil on Social Security that sped up planned increases in Social Security payroll tax rates in the Social Security Amendments of 1983.
The base of each party has narrowed significantly and moved further away from the center
Deals were reached so the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 was passed as well the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, each of which increased taxes or closed tax loopholes.
We can see how much more partisan each political party has become since the 1980 election by reviewing the political landscape after the 2018 election. The base of each party has narrowed significantly and moved further away from the center (0). The center of gravity in the Republican Party is now right of -1 while the bulk of Democrats are closer to +1. Both parties have adopted a more ideological driven platform that appeals to the far right and far left. There is no overlap that has any chance of leading to the 1980’s style of compromise since the party faithful in each party would view a compromise as a sellout of their principles. Fox News and MSNBC exist to reinforce what their viewers already believe and help their viewers to rationalize and justify looking at anyone who doesn’t agree as one of ‘them’.
If our country is to make any progress on the many serious issues that need to be addressed, the Wall between the political parties must be torn down. Sadly that is not likely to occur. The U.S. economy will set the record for the longest economic expansion in history in July 2019 (10 years), which leads many to conclude that we can afford to indulge in partisanship. They are wrong.
most Americans don’t realize that the U.S. economy is sailing toward a financial iceberg
On April 10, 1912 everyone boarding the Titanic knew they were getting on the largest passenger ship ever built. Before Mr. and Mrs. Albert Caldwell boarded, a Titanic crewman told them “Not even God could sink this ship.” What the Caldwell’s, the crewman, and everyone else aboard the Titanic didn’t know was that at 11:40 p.m. on April 14 the Titanic would hit an iceberg and sink at 2:20 a.m., less than 3 hours after striking the iceberg. Today, most Americans don’t realize that the U.S. economy is sailing toward a financial iceberg of excessive debt and unfunded government promises and programs. The coming collision between demographics and projected spending in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and every other government program has the potential to cause an upheaval in the social, political, and economic foundations of this country.
Social Security benefits will start to exceed the program’s costs in 2020, and the program will deplete its $2.9 trillion reserve fund in 2035, while Medicare is projected to run out of money in 2026. Medicare covers 59.9 million Americans, while 52.7 million are receiving Social Security benefits, and both programs will cover more people as Baby Boomers age. The longer Congress waits to act, the more draconian the ‘solutions’ will need to be and potentially divisive.
each American needs to see every other American as a fellow American
The word love may be one of the overused words in our society. Most of us understand love to mean an intense feeling of affection for another person or an attachment to our favorite things which advertisers certainly want to exploit. If our country is to overcome the political divisiveness that drives every discussion on every political topic, we are going to need a different kind of love.
According to the Dalai Lama, ‘Love is the complete absence of judgment.’ In today’s political environment each American needs to see every other American as a fellow American, and not as a Democrat or Republican, progressive or conservative, or capitalist or socialist. Diversity is a wonderful thing to celebrate and respect but now more than ever we need to be Americans.
This article is adapted from an earlier version posted on LinkedIn 23 April 2019.
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