As an American, I wish President Biden every success in defeating the pandemic and getting the economy moving again. But when it comes to the …
As an American, I wish President Biden every success in defeating the pandemic and getting the economy moving again. But when it comes to the dysfunction of our political system and the polarized climate generally, it’s becoming clear he’s part of the problem, not the solution. I don’t think this is deliberate. No doubt Biden believes he’s doing right as he sees it. He’s also probably sincere about his desire to detoxify our politics by pushing for some gauzy notion of “unity.” The real problem isn’t the player, it’s the game. Over the last half-century, the parties have separated from each other like oil and water in a centrifuge. As Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report notes, Americans “don’t even agree on the same set of problems.” She points to data from the Pew Research Center that illuminate the divide. According to Pew, “In 1999, improving the educational system topped the list of priorities for both Republicans and Democrats, and four of the top five issues for Republicans were listed among the Democrats’ top five issues as well.” “Ten years later,” Pew researchers report, “in the wake of the financial crisis, three issues (economy, jobs and terrorism) topped the list among both Republicans and Democrats (although they ranked them slightly differently).
