Our Polarized Parties Must Return to an Earlier Vision of Governance

One of ORL’s core principles is national unity. Unfortunately, our two major parties are dangerously polarized, and most voters support their party’s candidates less because they like them than because victory for the other side is viewed as catastrophic.

Things were not always this way. When I first started following politics, the Republicans were the party of business, and the Democrats were the party of labor. While this division had the potential to create a Marxian class conflict between capital and labor, both parties were actually quite moderate.

This was largely attributable to the fact that both parties contained liberal and conservative wings. Because presidential candidates of both parties had to be acceptable to disparate coalitions, the general election almost always pitted a center-right Republican against a center-left Democrat.

The most important difference between the parties then and now was this, however: despite their different primary constituencies, both parties drew voters from all social groups and presented themselves as representing the entire nation. While most union members voted Democratic, many did not. Similarly, while the Republican Party was the primary political vehicle for business as a class, many businesspeople cast their votes for Democrats.

Clearly, this is no longer true. Democrats represent one set of interests while Republicans represent another. Politics is increasingly viewed as a zero-sum game, and partisans on both sides demonize voters that disagree with them.

Good leaders model good behavior to their voters. John McCain set the right example here when he responded to an elderly woman who called Obama an Arab during the 2008 presidential campaign: “He’s a decent family man and a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with, and that’s what this campaign is all about.”

Both parties need to do better here. Democrats need to stop looking down on Republican voters as “deplorables” from “flyover country” who “cling to their guns and religion.”

Republicans need to speak out against President Trump when he calls Democrats stupid (“Dumbocrats”), accuses them of treason, or says they pose a greater threat to the nation than our enemies abroad. The same principle applies to instances where the President vilifies judges or Supreme Court justices for ruling against him.

While our two parties will always represent different constituencies, they should nevertheless try to attract voters from all social groups by offering policy proposals they believe will benefit the nation as a whole.Demonizing opponents is inherently divisive and undermines public confidence in critically important political institutions.