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The United States national debt
is higher at $16.5 trillion than the
overall size of the U.S. economy.
In 2012, America faced a so-called
“fiscal cliff” that wasn’t resolved so
much as it was put off to another
day. We also know that the U.S. Senate
has not passed a budget in four
years.
Is this the new normal for America?
Or is there some solution to this political
budgetary gridlock? In plain
truth, while lack of leadership in
congress is a problem, so much of
America is either dependent on the
federal government or doing business
with the federal government,
that the divisions in congress and
America we see today are likely
here to stay.
As I detail in my upcoming book,
The Divided Era, the partisanship
Is Congressional Budget
Gridlock Here to Stay?
by Thomas Del Beccaro
Chairman, California Republican Party
The United States national
debt is higher at $16.5 trillion
than the overall size of
the U.S. economy. In 2012,
America faced a so-called “fiscal
cliff” that wasn’t resolved so much
as it was put off to another day. We
also know that the U.S. Senate has
not passed a budget in four years.
Is this the new normal for America?
Or is there some solution to this
political budgetary gridlock? While
lack of leadership in Congress is a
problem, so much of America is either
dependent on the federal government
or doing business with the
federal government, that the divisions
in Congress and America we
see today are likely here to stay.
As I detail in my upcoming book,
“The Divided Era,” the partisanship
of today is different than at any time
in our history. In the past, we have
had very partisan eras featuring
very difficult issues. The most divisive
era in our history, the Civil War
and Reconstruction Period, saw us
decide issues with guns more than
ballots. You cannot get more partisan
than that.
The adoption of the Constitution
saw a political party do battle with
its anti-party: Federalists versus Anti-Federalists.
Imagine today if the
two parties were called Democrats
and Anti-Democrats or Republicans
and Anti-Republicans.
Now, however, we face a potentially
more intractable problem.
While the Civil War was a larger
and more deadly issue, and while
the adoption of the Constitution
proved to be more than just a philosophical
political fight for the ages,
they both involved what I describe
as closed-end issues.
We adopted the Constitution,
and while Hamilton and Jefferson
fought about its meaning, just as
some do today, the issue was resolved.
We have a Constitution and
we don’t have Articles of Confederation.
That issue was capable of being
decided once and for all. Similarly,
we fought a Civil War and we are
now one nation.
Today, we face a different problem.
When the Civil War ended,
and even up to the year 1900, total
government expenditures were less
than 7 percent of the U.S. economy.
Today, total government expenditures,
from local government all the
way to the federal government, are
a staggering 33 percent.
First, that means our governments
are spending a lot more
money. Predictably, we have the
usual fights over the proper scope of
government. Today, however, the
number and fervor of those fights
is growing right along with the size
of the federal budget, which has
grown over 300 percent in the last
30 years. While this fight is not new,
it is a growing problem.
Second, our growing deficits, tax
burdens and troubled economy are
fostering an unprecedented competition
between those seeking
funding for current government op-
8
MARCH 2013