Gridlock is Good

After the 2012 election, a familiar word has returned to the top of the pundit's list of talking points: Gridlock. Since the Democrats have control of the Senate and the Presidency but the Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, many fear that nothing will get done in Washington. One can only hope.

"Gridlock" has become a toxic word in political discourse - one that generates frustration and anger within many people. Although blamed for many of the nation's ills, specifically the downgrade in the US credit rating (which in reality had nothing to do with gridlock), gridlock is in fact good - great even!

The founders created a federal system of checks and balances which keeps politicians in both political parties busy attacking each other instead of the individual citizen, who the State usually targets. Problematic policies derive more often than not from bipartisanship rather than gridlock. Those in the media and whatever political party is being stood up against at the moment tell us differently over and over again and they hope we do not investigate the matter ourselves. However, a quick look back at recent history proves that bipartisanship has produced many terrible policies and pieces of legislation such as No Child Left Behind, the War on Drugs, the Patriot Act and the NDAA. The disastrous US foreign policy is bipartisan, government intervention in healthcare is bipartisan, the inflationary Federal Reserve was born out of bipartisanship - enough agreeing already!

Following the recent election, which generally resulted in no change at all, talks of trying to end gridlock in Washington have naturally been renewed. An immediate deal is seen as needed to avoid the upcoming fiscal cliff and some are getting desperate to shove their agenda down the throats of every American in the process. The newly elected Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, is wasting no time in proving her impeccable credentials as an enemy of liberty. Warren is promising to lead the charge on filibuster reform in the Senate. Why is filibuster reform needed in the Senate, you might ask, but not, say, three years ago? Reform is naturally needed now because the Republican minority can currently use the filibuster against the Democrats! Joe Biden was against filibuster reform when the Democrats sat in the minority in the Senate; now that the Democrats have the majority and are inconvenienced by the filibuster, he swings to the beat of a different drum.

Hopefully Warren's crusade fails. Gridlock can be a great tool for the defense of liberty. The other alternatives are bipartisan agreement, which has been more detrimental than beneficial to the cause of liberty, or one-party-rule, which has been an even worse course. The two parties have done enough agreeing to destroy the principles that this nation was founded on multiple times over. At least Washington cannot hurt the people for a while under gridlock.