When I first read the above, I admit that I missed the larger philosophical implications, because one major detail jumped out at me:
49,700,000 Americans who voted for the Republicans
This quite overestimates the amount of Americans who voted for the
Republican Party, by the number of 49,700,000. In actuality, the amount of Americans who voted for the Republicans was
0, the exact same as voted for the
Democratic Party. In the United States, voters do not vote for
political parties, they vote for
candidates. This is not a
pedantic point, and while
Noung is trying to develop a philosophical point, it might apply differently to a county that does not use a
parliamentary system. Noung, however, has a pass that many don't, which is that he has an excuse for not being exposed to how the United State's political system works. As it is portrayed in the news
media, most of the legislation that comes before congress is very controversial legislation planned by the party leadership, whether it be the
Executive or the Legislative leadership, which then becomes a matter of a gigantic partisan battle.
Using the power of the internet, especially a lovely tool called govtrack.us, I was able to dig into what congress does, when it is not making front page headlines. Of the bills introduced in congress (which is a very small fraction of the bills that pass), they fit into three categories:
- Bills that both parties support, but that don't really matter. Do you love Lance Armstrong? Do you love Heisman Trophy Winners? How about the local university's champion women's soccer team? Do you love Lester Flatt, bluegrass music pioneer? So does the United States congress. Congress passes a large amount of bills that are non-controversial resolutions in favor of mom, baseball and apple pie. Typically, these bills get a lot of bipartisan support.
Related to this, but with perhaps a bit more controversy attached, are things that actually require spending money. However, these usually will have support of all of the state or regional delegation, regardless of political affiliation. Sometimes these involve (relatively) trivial amounts of money to improve the facilities at your local Veterans Administration hospital, or to improve services at a National Park located in your state. These can bleed into:
- Bills that both parties support, and actually do something. Do you believe the federal government should give states money to make dams safe? Do you believe that businesses that reduce the amount of fuel spent while vehicles idle should be given tax credits? Should land that is owned but kept for conservation purposes be exempted from being taxed? Should the Department of Agriculture make promoting the habitats of pollinating insects more of a priority? All of these are bills that were cosponsored by members of both parties. Many of them were brought up because they dealt with a certain region or interest group's interest, rather than being foisted on the party from above by the party leadership. Some of them have multiple interests or regions behind them, such as the idling tax-credit bill, which was supported by Earl Blumenauer, Oregon's leftist, environmentalist representative, and a group of Republicans from Texas that probably have truckers as a constituency. These types of policy decisions are very technocratic, and also for the common person, probably fairly boring. "Both Parties Agree That Trucking Companies Should Get Tax Credits for More Fuel Efficient Fleets" doesn't make a very exciting headline, and doesn't even fit above the fold. That is why this type of nuts and bolts policy making doesn't make it into the news, and instead people usually read about:
- Bills that are partisan, controversial, and involve lots of name-calling. Toxic Assets Recovery Program. (Which was indeed not a partisan bill, but not for the right reasons). Cap and Trade. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Health Care overhaul. All bills that bring ideology and partisanship to the fore, but this is not all that congress does. In some fairness, this is also more of a controversy because it makes more of an impact than much of what is in the proceeding category, but all of the little things in the above category are not trivial, they do add up over time.
Of course, the United States' system is not totally different from a parliamentary system, and the representatives often do line up in rank and file behind plans devised by their leadership. But in the United States, at least, it also makes sense to look at the congress as a group of technocrats who represent their district, state or region on some fairly specific issues. Much US legislation is actually, in fact, drawn up from the bottom upwards in a bipartisan fashion. This is what makes cries for bipartisanship somewhat ironic: behind the headlines, the same day-to-day relationships about many issues is still going on as it ever had. However, this does lead to a further problem: all of those special tax credits and special programs designed by both Republicans and Democrats add up. Then, the Republicans (currently) engage in a type of brinksmanship: after designing many of these programs and policies together, the Republican leadership acts as if all of the government budget was designed by Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in a special closed door meeting, then carried out by congresspeople following their marching order. This is not, I think, the case.
Of course, much of this might miss the philosophical point given above, but I do not think I am making merely a pedantic point. In the United States, congress was not designed to be a parliamentary body, and day to day, it functions in a bipartisan manner.
Appendix Bills cited above, and some others:
One of several resolutions about Lance Armstrong
Mark Ingram wins the Heisman Trophy!
GO PILOTS!
Lester Flatt and his contributions to bluegrass music
Hermiston, Oregon, and its water supply.
Improved Veterans Administration Hospital: I made the example up, but it was pretty easy to find.
The Rural Colorado water infrastructure act
Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act
Tax credits for idling engine reduction
Excluding conservation easements from tax
Pollinator Habitat
As a comment on these bills, I do admit that I pulled them out as being representative, but that it does not mean that they are totally indicative. I encourage the reader to go to govtrack.us and research bills for themselves.