Responding to Waldo

Leading Virginia Democratic blogger Waldo Jaquith writes:

A Democratic president and House, with a Republican Senate—that’s how I like my government. On paper, I should want Democrats across the board, but the results under a split government are just better.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 23 February 2009 @ 2pm

My response (h/t to Mike Lux and his great book, "The Progressive Revolution," for much of this information):

*Abraham Lincoln accomplished great things while his party - the Republican Party of his day - controlled the House and Senate 100% of the time. Examples: the first progressive income tax, the Pacific Railroad Act, the land-grant university system, the Homestead Act, saving the Union.

*Teddy Roosevelt accomplished great things while his party - the Republican Party of his day - controlled the House and Senate 100% of the time. Examples (courtesy of Wikipedia):

He was a Progressive reformer who sought to move the dominant Republican Party into the Progressive camp. He distrusted wealthy businessmen and dissolved forty monopolistic corporations as a "trust buster". He was clear, however, to show he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle but was only against corrupt, illegal practices. His "Square Deal" promised a fair shake for both the average citizen (through regulation of railroad rates and pure food and drugs) and the businessmen. He was the first U.S. president to call for universal health care and national health insurance.[5][6] As an outdoorsman, he promoted the conservation movement, emphasizing efficient use of natural resources.

*FDR accomplished great things while his party - the Democratic Party of his day - controlled the House and Senate 100% of the time. Examples: Social Security, the New Deal, the Civilian Conservation Corps, banking regulations, support for family farmers, winning World War II and saving the world from Fascism.

*JFK and LBJ accomplished great things while their party - the Democratic Party of their day - controlled the House and Senate 100% of the time. Examples: sent a man to the moon, passed historic civil rights and voting rights legislation (ending "Jim Crow" for good), launched the Great Society (food stamps, Medicaid, Head Start, Job Corps) and the War on Poverty (poverty fell from 19.5% in 1963 to 12.1% in 1969).

*Ronald Reagan ran up huge deficits, weakened unions and family farms, made our taxation system more regressive, shredded the social safety net, and was responsible for a massive violation of the law (the Iran-Contra scandal), while we had divided government for most of this two terms (Democrats controlled the House for all 8 years of Reagan's presidency)

*Bill Clinton laid the foundation for peace and prosperity during the first two years of his presidency, when Democrats controlled the House and Senate, and when his budget - the one that led to budget surpluses and a booming economy - passed without a SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTE in the House. During the "divided government" part of Clinton's two terms in office, his goals of universal health care and infrastructure investment were largely abandoned.

*One example, that of George W. Bush, proves that "divided government" is crucial if a REPUBLICAN is in the White House. No need to review the debacle that was George W. Bush's presidency, particularly the disastrous first 6 years when Tom DeLay's merry band of Enron Republicans controlled the House, while Trent Lott's and Bill Frist's Republicans controlled the Senate much of the time.

In short, with all due respect to Waldo, there's absolutely no evidence - at least when it comes to the Democratic Party - that "the results under a split government are just better." In fact, there are reams of evidence to the contrary, with the one exception that undivided REPUBLICAN government has been a complete disaster in recent years. The bottom line? This country has accomplished almost all the progress it has made when one party - Republicans back in the day (e.g., under Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt) when they were a serious party; Democrats pretty much all the time - controlled both the Congress and the White House. Is there any reason to believe this situation is going to change anytime soon? I don't see it.