Unified States of America

The big winner in last Tuesday’s election was unified government. Between the years 1900 – 1952 unified governed occurred 85% of the time. Since, however, unified government has occurred much less frequently. The trend toward divided government has been an important feature of our contemporary government.

Such trends appear over.

Divided government occurs when the majority party in Congress differs from the party of the President. In recent years this has meant a Democratic majority in charge of the legislative branch and a Republican George Bush as President.

Unified government occurs when the majority party in Congress is the same as the party of the President. Since 1952, we have experienced unified government only about one third of the time. As political scientist-in-chief David Mayhew has written, “Divided we Govern.”

One would expect that divided government produces gridlock and unified government yields legislative productivity. Yet the facts may be counter intuitive. Mayhew and others have argued that significant legislation is no more likely in a unified government. Periods of divided government may encourage greater deliberation and subsequent bipartisan success.

Unified government, however, often finds itself trapped and snared by incestuous bickering. Agenda setting rarely has one master. The White House and Congress often have different constituent groups to please. The push and pull of the legislative process may butt up against Obama and his minions. Obama won the election after all by appealing to his moderate side. Ramming a liberal agenda through Congress may make for a short honeymoon.

The last time we had an extended unified government, all the way back to the 1960s, significant reform legislation was passed. This included advancements in civil rights, education and health care. In G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot’s latest book The Liberal Hour they argue:

“The institutions of national politics and bureaucrats who inhabited them . . . produced social and economic changes that have become the deep and enduring legacy of the 1960s.”

Unified government need not to be feared. Years ago Woodrow Wilson wrote – “It is only once in a generation that a people can be lifted above the material things. That is why conservative government is in the saddle two thirds of the time.”

Has our time arrived?

Barack Obama was not the only winner in the electoral victory. Unified government is back and looking stronger than ever. The recent trend toward divided government was soundly defeated. Only time will tell what the consequences will be of taking that last trend out of town.
(From CBS2School)

VIDEO: Unified Government