Washington’s Dangerous Obsession

To the Editor: 
Political Washington is obsessed with party power. Little doubt either major party would like to have strong majorities in Congress and hold the White House for as long as they can. Indeed the Democratic National Committee and its Republican counterpart are dedicated to that purpose. It has reached the point where there is virtually no bipartisan cooperation in Congress or between the White House and the opposing party in Congress. 
This obsession permeates our executive and legislative branches and engenders bitter animosity between parties, gives us deceptive accounts of official happenings, lots of spin (a form of deception) and rancorous credit and blame games. It has discouraged statesmanship (putting nation before party and self-interest) and basically tattered the very fabric of our Republic. It is an insult to the governed from our elected federal office holders. The electorate has a responsibility in this, having allowed the elected to divide us around our narrow self-interests and through apathy or ignorance of issues by many of us. An uninformed and/or misinformed electorate is vulnerable to the manipulations of ambitious politicians.
The two-party system is a good idea. One party too long in power just intensifies corruption, a constant companion of partisan politics. There are ways to destroy this system. For example: since the last election, which had high shock value for many, calls for abandoning the Electoral College in favor of a popular vote format were heard. A consequence of such a change would be election outcomes determined by the states on the Pacific coast, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and New England, all with substantial Democratic-voter majorities. It would be a death knell for the GOP and a two-party system. Some staunch Democrats would favor this, but it would be bad for the country. The Democratic Party’s existence could be threatened by a deep leftward shift to the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren view of government. Indeed shifts to the extreme left or right for the respective parties would not fly. Thus we often see primary campaigns trend left or right to secure the party bases, moving to the middle after candidates have been chosen. Both parties should recognize that the number of registered party-faithful voters, as a percentage of the total, has not significantly changed for years, while the independent segment of registered voters continues to grow.
Non-traditional patterns influenced the election results we got, which was basically a repudiation of Washington-as-usual. Regarding that outcome: I wasn’t happy with either choice but Donald J. Trump is our president for at least four years, duly elected by the system in place. We should all hope the results of his presidency are very positive for the nation. Enter the media. The founders, through the First Amendment, encouraged a free press. This Fourth Estate was seen as the last line of defense against government overreach and tyranny. But the press and other media’s leftward lean undermine their objectivity and diminishes their ability to protect against the excesses of government. Of course, President Trump’s constant lashing of the press doesn’t help. Regarding his knee-jerk tweets: One recalls an old saying, “It is better to remain silent and appear dumb than to speak and remove all doubt.” Mr. President, a little more thought before tweeting please.