Political partisanship has been a divisive topic since the earliest years of U.S. history. In his farewell address from office, President George Washington foresaw the issues with political parties, saying “let me…warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.” He foresaw the partisan gridlock that would direct American politics, although even today’s partisan gridlock may be far worse than anything our founding father could have ever imagined. The gridlock that drives the frustration of many Americans today is not merely a result of Democratic and Republican resentments toward one another. Rather, the factionalism present within the Republican Party itself is also driving this frustration, as the infighting has only served to exacerbate Congress’ ineffectiveness.
The Republican Party has recently fought amongst itself to the detriment of the American people on two crucial issues: the House Select Committee on Benghazi and the upcoming selection of a Speaker of the House to replace Rep. John Boehner.
Current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was seen as the logical replacement for Boehner. At age 50 and as a moderate Republican from the liberal state of California, McCarthy seemed an ideal candidate for the job. Due to his relative youth and his background as a political minority in California, he appeared both energetic and willing to work across the aisle to ensure Congress operates efficiently, despite the ideological differences of its members. Yet, his bid to become the next Speaker became sullied when he said a key achievement of the Benghazi House committee was lowering Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers.
If even the House Majority Leader cannot control the actions of his own party, then clearly there is a larger problem at hand. Since the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi three years ago, seven different congressional probes have systematically investigated the incident, and thus it seems as though Congress has done its job to find the facts needed. Yet, the shaming of McCarthy by his more extreme brethren shows those on the far right might be willing to throw their own partisans under the bus so long as they can get their way, even at the expense of spending several million taxpayer dollars more effectively.
McCarthy’s attempt to make a pragmatic, rather than political, summation of the committee likely cost him his ability to successfully run for speaker. Likewise Congressman Paul Ryan, who is the choice of many Republicans to be the next candidate for the position, has found it difficult to transcend the ideological divides within his own party. He recently decided he would officially run for the office, but only if fellow Republicans would put their differing views aside and unite under his leadership, as he likely feared falling into the same political trap as his predecessor John Boehner. While Republicans eventually did pledge allegiance to him, the incessant internal fighting amongst the party nearly kept Ryan, an individual with many of the same characteristics as McCarthy, from ascending to the highest post in Congress. In this chaos, Congress has been operating in a state of constant uncertainty, which has only served to negatively impact the efficiency of the political process because it has distracted from the administration of normal affairs.
Infighting within the Republican Party has led to the misallocation of government funds via the Benghazi Committee and has placed stress on the party to fill a major leadership void, taking away time and energy from completing crucial governmental tasks. Due to its inability to operate in an effective manner over the past several years, Congress’ approval rating is a meager 13 percent. It might seem easy and even logical to simply blame America’s frustration with the legislature on the ideological divide between Democrats and Republicans. Yet, it is also crucial to note that ideological discrepancies within the Republican Party itself have been equally detrimental to effective governance.
Jesse Berman is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He may be reached at j.berman@cavalierdaily.com.
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