PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Analyst William Galston made a good point when he wrote this in the Wall Street Journal a couple days ago:

“The American constitutional system functions well when one political party dominates the government or when two evenly matched parties have enough common ground to make compromises. When both parties are closely and deeply divided, gridlock is the norm and legislative success the exception. With thin margins in Congress, this is the situation Joe Biden faced as he took the oath of office.”

It’s easy to be critical of Congress for inaction and many such criticisms are more than justified as Members of Congress appear to be mainoy interested in their own re-election or subjecting the opposing party to over-the-top criticism…just for “political purposes.”

What gets lost in all of this is the need for concerted, middle-of-the-road action on a host of pressing public policy challenges facing this country.  Which raises a question about whether our current form of government can work at all.

Much of this question resolves around the abhorrent conduct of Donald Trump who, by his own narcissism, turned the country inside out during his years as president and the fact that he may be running again turns my stomach,

To get back to Galston’s analysis, “the past three decades,” he reports, “have been an era of closely balanced parties unprecedented in American political history.  Of the 17 presidential elections between 1920 and 1984, 11 were decided with popular-vote landslides of 10 points or more.  In the eight elections since 1984, not one candidate has reached that margin of victory.

“Democrats held the majority in the House for four unbroken decades after the 1954 election.  Since then, the chamber has changed hands four times (in 1994, 2006, 2010 and 2018).  There is a better than even chance that the House flips again in 2022.

Galston opines that, when control of Congress and the White House are up for grabs in nearly every election, governing in the national interest becomes more difficult.

“The minority,” he says, “is more likely to view issues as opportunities to cast the majority in an unfavorable light, and the majority will be less likely to make concessions.  Because the actions of committee chairman and even individual members can affect the entire party’s chances in the next election, power flows toward party leaders, who enforce ‘message discipline’ and press wavering members to stick with their party.

“Bright-line contrasts with the other party take priority over the more nuanced stances that compromise requires.  Besides, compromises may disappoint the party’s base, making stalwart supporters less interested in voting, especially in midterm elections.

“The time and political space that governance requires are replaced by 24/7 political combat.  Even on issues that enjoy support across party lines, such as infrastructure, the incentive is to score partisan points, not focus on the many areas of agreement.”

Still, there may be cause to hope on several counts.

First, such issues as competing with China and police reform could produce momentum toward compromise, given the importance of those issues.

China stands on its own.  And the rise of that huge nation has produced broad support for investments in new technologies and production processes such as artificial intelligence and robotics to enable the U.S. to compete.  As a result, the Endless Frontier Act, now on the Senate floor, will likely attract a bi-partisan majority.

Further, a bi-partisan, bi-cameral negotiation over police reform has made some progress in recent weeks and, Galston reports that, if a compromise can be forged on the scope of legal immunity police enjoy, a bill could reach the president’s desk by the end of summer.

Second, some Members of Congress may be reaching a conclusion that the cost of continued inaction is too high.  Some of these members came to Washington to get things done and are dismayed by the partisan combat they encounter, which seems to dwarf anything else.

Despite daunting obstacles, many are reaching across the aisle to work with members of the other party with efforts such as the House Problem Solvers Caucus and less formal arrangements such as the Senate’s “G-20” (10 members from each party).

If these conversations yield a clearer understanding of each side’s red lines, even the deep divide between today’s parties may prove surmountable.

One hopes that could be possible.  Otherwise, our way of government may continue to recede.