As the 114th Congress opens up shop, I am struck by one overwhelming thought: We can do better.
I know, I know, this doesn’t exactly qualify as prescient political insight. I mean, many Americans would agree that the 113th Congress failed to make, say, the top 110 in terms of effectiveness and in terms of bolstering the national psyche. Yet, while there is common ground to be cultivated in the notion that we can do better, the difficulty comes in vastly different definitions of “better.”
All of which is a roundabout way of getting to the point of this missive — 1956. Yes, 1956. You know, the age of Eisenhower and Elvis and post-war prosperity. Not that I actually remember any of it; I’m not quite that old. But 1956 has become a bit of an Internet meme among those who wonder how our political parties evolved into what they are today.
You see, 1956 was a presidential election year, with Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower being re-elected over Adlai Stevenson. A presidential election means the parties publish platforms to spell out their most dearly held beliefs, and the Republicans of 1956 appear to have inhabited some alternate universe when compared with Republicans of today.
For example, the 1956 GOP platform called for federal assistance to low-income communities; for an extension of the minimum wage; for expansion of unemployment benefits to cover more people; for the strengthening of labor laws so more workers could join a union; for the assurance of equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender; and for passage of an Equal Rights Amendment.
As you likely know, many of these planks would cause an aneurysm among today’s true Republican believers. For example, regarding assistance for low-income communities, the 2012 Republican platform stressed that the federal government “has spent billions more on poorly designed and ineffective housing assistance programs.” The 2012 GOP platform, while not directly addressing minimum wage or equal pay, decried “unprecedented uncertainty in the American free enterprise system due to the overreaching policies of the current administration.”
Times have changed
That’s not to say that today’s Republicans are wrong. Considering that federal spending now equals 20 percent of the gross domestic product and that in 1956 it was 16 percent, there has been plenty of overreach; considering that the national debt is more than $18 trillion, there has been plenty of irresponsibility.
And, to be fair, the Democrats have changed, as well. The 1956 platform of the Democratic Party focuses heavily upon foreign policy and national security, issues that in the past six decades have been hijacked by Republicans — at least in terms of public perception. And the 1956 Democrats make scant mention of the environment (which apparently didn’t exist until about 1970) and strongly supports the development of nuclear energy.
Yes, the world has changed and the parties have changed with it. Few people would have an interest in returning to the 1950s, even if that era has been gilded and lacquered and lionized in the minds of some. For everybody who thinks that things were all honey and roses in the United States during that time, there is an African-American or a woman or a poor person who begs to differ.
Yet we can do better. Which brings us to the burgeoning congressional session. You see, I can’t help but wonder what has happened to Republicans over the past six decades. Eisenhower once said, “Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.” Nixon once established the Environmental Protection Agency. Republicans long have espoused fiscal responsibility, but their past three administrations have greatly expanded the national debt (yet not as much as Obama).
So, as Republicans take control of Congress, there remains much middle ground that is barren in the current political landscape. We can do better.
