Gridlock is Good

November 5, 2024 is Election Day. It will be a monumental day affecting the future of the United States for at least the next four years, if not longer. The president and vice president, running on a single ticket, will take office on January 20, 2025 for a four year term. Additionally, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will also be elected for terms of two years and six years respectively.

The American Constitution provides for three co-equal branches of government which jointly form a system of checks and balances which are a foundation of our democratic system of government. The president and vice president are elected via the Electoral College which essentially means that the winner needs to obtain a majority of votes in that college. This prevents any state from dominating the election and is an obstacle to stealing votes sufficient to change the results. The legislative branch is represented by the Congress and can prevent excesses by the executive. Finally, there is a judiciary which is not elected but nominated by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Unlike other countries which have a plethora of political parties, the US has only two major parties, Democrat and Republican. There is no Prime Minister, nor is there a separation of the head of state and head of government. They are one and the same, namely, the president. The person filling the presidency thus has immense constitutional power as both head of state and government. The writers of the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, understood this and limited presidential power by necessitating congressional approval by passing or withholding approval of laws and various executive actions and nominations. Similarly, the executive may object to various legislative actions by vetoing acts passed by the congress. Currently, the Republican Party has a small majority in the House of Representatives and the Democrat Party has a razor thin majority in the Senate. As the two chambers are each controlled by different parties, it is quite difficult for either legislative chamber or the president to obtain legislation unless bipartisan agreement can be obtained. The US is currently in the grips of ideological warfare between the two major parties and large segments of the voters. The country is therefore spared controversial legislation due to the inability of the two parties to reach an appropriate consensus. The president, too, is weakened as it is difficult for him to propose legislation which might have a great effect on opposing segments of the population as he cannot obtain sufficient votes to get such legislation through both houses. This situation can be described as gridlock.

The current ideological split in the American population is greater that it's been in many years. The presumptive candidates, incumbent President Joe Biden (D) and his opponent, former President Donald Trump (R) both arouse great emotion among their supporters and opponents. Their legislative proposals differ radically in all areas and arouse widespread love or hate among the electorate. Constitutionally, regardless of who wins this presidential election, the winner will serve only four years due to term limitations imposed upon that office. No one can state whom the two parties will nominate in 2028 but we can be sure it will not be someone named Biden or Trump. Whether the candidates in 2028 will be less polarizing or not is anybody’s guess today. Four years is a long way off and much can happen in that period of time.

Who will win this November is equally questionable. Despite numerous political polls predicting one or the other candidate being in the lead by greater or lesser percentages, the only poll that counts is that of November 5, Election Day. Given the extreme polarization of the voting public, we cannot predict who will control the legislative chambers either. For stability and civic cohesion, it seems that the above-mentioned gridlock would be a desirable outcome. Control of one or both legislative chambers by a different party than that of the president would give us a weak presidency that would need to obtain bipartisan support to pass any legislation. That would be a brake on any radical and controversial legislation at least, hopefully until 2028, when less polarizing candidates may be on the ballot. For the upcoming election, gridlock is good.

Garry S. Sklar

Aruba

July 11, 2024