The last ‘normal’ president

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor I ’ve been interested in politics virtually my whole life.

Even as a young child I can remember being at least a little interested in what then-President Jimmy Carter had to say. Even though I was only seven, I kept up with the Iran Hostage situation that ultimately led, maybe more than anything, to Carter’s defeat at the hands of Ronald Reagan.

It was the Reagan presidency that cemented my love for politics. I went from age 8 to age 16 during Reagan’s two terms, so my political acumen grew up under the umbrella of Reagan’s America. Back then, at least it seemed, that there was room at the political table for everyone. Bipartisanship was the norm and it was nothing remarkable to see politicians reach across the aisle to get important legislation through Congress. Even within the parties, there was a pantheon of different ideologies, with (believe it or not) liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats and eve (no, really) moderate members of both parties who might share some beliefs with the other party. Picture a pro-choice Republican (gasp!) or a Democrat who favored capital punishment (say it ain’t so!).

Those days are over.

Nope, can’t have a wide range of independent thoughts and stay in the good graces of the party (either party). You might still see it a little on the state level – think Governor Charlie Baker or Governor Phil Scott of Vermont, who often get branded as being RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) because of their moderate views on a lot of issues (how dare they!). As frustrating as it might be for the currently deadlocked Senate, Joe Manchin is one of the few Democrats who still clings to fairly conservative ideals, especially in the realm of fiscal matters.

Why is this? Why must one be 100 percent red or blue? Why can’t there be a voice of reason that says, “This makes no sense!” I’ve been looking into this a little more closely lately. I recently re-watched “Hamilton,” the musical about the founding father famously killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr (imagine Kamala Harris or Mike Pence dueling with someone! Full disclosure, I can actually see Dick Cheney going pistols-at-10-paces with someone). Anyway, that got me into tracing the history of political parties in the U.S. Fun fact: We don’t have to have political parties! It’s a concept completely absent from the U.S. Constitution. Had Hamilton and his rival Thomas Jefferson been able to play in the same sandbox a little better in the early 1800s, we might not even have them.

Oh, but to dream…

But we definitely have them now, although they’ve been through some changes over the past 200 years. No more Federalists. No more Whigs. No Progressives or Reform parties. I mean, there are dozens of “third” parties, but none of them are politically relevant. Not even the Libertarians, who seem to have some appealing ideas but not in a way that makes anyone actually vote for them when the time comes. And even the Democrats and Republicans have had some massive makeovers. You’ll remember that the Democrats were built around Andrew Jackson, who today is vilified for his efforts to wipe out the Native Americans and keep slavery intact. And, of course, the Grand Old Party (in case you were wondering what GOP stood for) bears little resemblance to the progressive-minded party that led Abraham Lincoln to the White House.

And that’s fine. In fact, political parties are, at least in theory, just fine. But in practice, it gets a little dicey. That’s why I’m very concerned that Joe Biden is our last “normal” president, at least for a while. You see, whether you like Biden or not, you can probably see that his presidency is a “course correction.” What I mean is, a lot of the country thought Barack Obama was taking the nation too far to the left, so they supported Donald Trump, who many then thought was taking the country too far to the right. Biden, for better or for worse, is much more an in-the-middle sort of guy.

And that’s the problem. In 2024, we will have been sort of in the middle for four years – something that neither the far left nor the far right can stand. So just you watch and see, the next few candidates for president are going to be extremists. Trumpier than Trump. More Hillariffic than Hillary. We’re going to have a parade of right-wing nutjobs and far-left extremists and they are going to be doing their best to pull the country as far in their directions as possible. It’s going to be a tug-of-war.

And no matter who wins, We the People lose.