division

Tuesday November 17, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 17, 2020

America’s divisions run deeper than you think

As the dust finally settles two weeks after the American-election earthquake, two undeniable facts are now clear.

November 6, 2020

First, whatever Donald Trump says, Joe Biden was elected president. Second, before Biden can put his progressive agenda fully to work, he must achieve the political equivalent of scaling a sheer, vertical mountain face. 

To comprehend Biden’s predicament, look beyond the bitterly divided country he will lead. He’s also the head of a seriously splintered Democratic Party that agreed to a truce long enough to defeat the common enemy of President Donald Trump but then immediately returned to fighting itself. 

This internecine conflict, along with ongoing confusion over what the party truly stands for, partly explains why the Democratic landslide so many pollsters predicted never materialized. Remember how, just before the election, the Democrats had high hopes of winning America’s political trifecta; the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate?

Poll after poll buoyed these expectations. And with the always outrageous Trump bungling his way through a pandemic, economic crisis and the most serious racial unrest in a half century, the planets seemed aligned for a historic Democratic victory.

October 31, 2020

Pretty much any Democratic body with a healthy pulse should have been able to trounce Trump, or so it seemed. Why this didn’t happen should result in some profound Democratic soul-searching. Yes, Biden won the presidency, but in many of the states he carried, he did so by razor-thin margins. 

Somehow, the Democrats managed to lose seats in the House of Representatives. Nor does it seem likely they’ll wrest control of the Senate from Republican hands. As a result, Biden’s dreams of massive infrastructure spending, a concerted nationwide campaign against climate change as well as overdue health-care reforms could remain just that — dreams.

The Democrats are at loggerheads over why they didn’t do better — a dispute that should itself point to the answer they need. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed democratic “socialist” who sits in the House of Representatives, blamed incompetent party strategists and their failure to tack farther to the left.

March 6, 2020

To which Democratic Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger replied, the party should never again use the words “socialist” or “socialism,” and stop talking about defunding the police.

To be sure, this is a fight the Democrats must settle themselves. But it’s worth noting the Democrats made Biden president by persuading more Democrats to come out and vote, not by convincing Republicans to abandon Trump. Millions of more people voted for Trump in 2020 than did in 2016. To really make a difference moving forward, the Democrats need to win over some of those Americans. 

February 11, 2020

As hard it will be for his opponents to admit, Trump expanded his base, including with Black and Hispanic voters. Despite this, the post-election Republicans are also divided, uncertain whether they should stick with Trumpist populism or whether their future lies in more moderate, centrist politics.

What happens next matters greatly, not just to the U.S. but other countries, including Canada, which have experienced sharp, political polarization within, as well as between, political parties. For instance Erin O’Toole, who billed himself as a “true blue” Tory before becoming leader of Canada’s federal Conservatives, is suddenly flirting with populism.

It is fitting that Biden has pledged to be a great unifier and healer. We hope he brings his country together. But first he must unite his own party. Politics has been called the art of the possible. In a democracy, politics can also be categorized as the fine art of compromise. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Saturday November 7, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 7, 2020

Biden Agenda To Face The Challenges Of A Closely Divided Congress

President-elect Joe Biden said Friday, as ballots were still being tabulated in states across the country, that voters had spoken loudly to embrace the policies and principles he campaigned on.

October 31, 2020

“They have given us a mandate for action on COVID and the economy and climate change and systemic racism,” Biden said in a late-night speech in Wilmington, Del. “They made it clear they want the country to come together — not pull apart.”

Biden followed Saturday night by calling on Democrats and Republicans to come together after the election and pledged to join them.

“And I believe that this is part of the mandate from the American people. They want us to cooperate,” Biden said. “That’s the choice I’ll make. And I call on the Congress — Democrats and Republicans alike — to make that choice with me.”

But Biden, who secured enough votes to win the Electoral College on Saturday morning, will face a narrowly divided Congress when he takes office in January. Biden’s significant lead in the popular vote did not translate to a Democratic wave in the House and Senate, leaving Biden without the votes necessary to pursue an aggressive legislative agenda in Congress.

Democrats maintained control of the House of Representatives but the GOP made gains, picking up at least five seats in the election. Control of the Senate will remain undecided until early January following a pair of runoff elections in Georgia.

November 6, 2020

Republican reaction to Biden’s victory has been muted as focus shifts to GOP efforts to defend incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in those Georgia seats. So far, most Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have not congratulated Biden or acknowledged his victory.

But Democrats are already calling those races the linchpin that determines the success of Biden’s agenda. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used Biden’s victory as a call to arms in the Georgia races.

Regardless of the outcome in Georgia, the victors will have a narrow majority in the Senate. And Democrats will be forced to contend with divisions within their own party on some of the biggest policy items on Biden’s list.

Among the most controversial is a plan to combat climate change. Democrats themselves are not fully unified on how to approach the issue. Divisions over how quickly and aggressively to move to limit carbon emissions have simmered within the party since progressive lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced the Green New Deal — a plan to eliminate the carbon footprint by 2030 — back in 2019.

Progressive activists are also calling for Biden to move on another issue that divides the party, Medicare for All. Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., both oppose the plan and instead want Obamacare expanded with a public option. But progressives argue that the party has shifted to embrace widespread government-sponsored health care.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

Biden has consistently promised that one of his top priorities will be to take immediate steps to combat and control the spread of the coronavirus, which has surged in recent weeks. His plan includes investing in expanded testing with a Pandemic Testing Board and a vast Public Health Jobs Corps as well as better tracing capacity and greater production and distribution of personal protective equipment. His plan also includes a plan to boost jobs to aid in economic recovery.

Congressional leaders say they hope to pass some COVID relief before the end of this year but Democrats have long insisted that they expect the economy will need further support in 2021. (NPR) 

 

Friday November 6, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 6, 2020

Trump’s Stunning News Conference

What the president of the United States did tonight wasn’t complicated but it was stunning, even after four long years of the politically extraordinary.

February 22, 2011

President Trump attacked democracy.

In his remarks tonight from the White House, Mr. Trump lied about the vote count, smeared his opponents and attempted to undermine the integrity of our electoral system.

“If you count the legal votes, I win,” he said, before ticking off a litany of baseless claims about ways his campaign had supposedly been cheated by his opponents, nonpartisan poll workers and a vast conspiracy of technology companies and big business.

But nothing is “rigged” or “stolen” or “illegal.” No one is “doing a lot of bad things.”

Donald Trump is simply losing.

And he’s apparently decided to try and take our system down with him.

John McCain’s revenge

Joe Biden has been cutting into Mr. Trump’s lead, or expanding his own, in three of the four states that will decide the next president: Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. Notably, in the state where Mr. Trump appears to be making gains — Arizona — the president seems to take little issue with the vote count.

The votes that Mr. Trump calls “late” and “illegal” were postmarked by Election Day, making them valid. In Pennsylvania, the Republican-led state legislature wouldn’t allow poll workers to start counting mail ballots until Election Day. So now, they’re being counted.

Instead of letting the process play out, the president is calling on election officials to stop counting ballots, potentially disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters. As James Baker, the former secretary of state who led the Republican legal and political team during the Florida recount battle in 2000, told my colleague Peter Baker today: “That’s a very hard decision to defend in a democracy.” 

There’s also a pragmatic question about the president’s allegations: If Democrats were going to rig an election, why didn’t they do a better job of it? After many Democrats all but predicted a landslide, the party has so far lost seats in the House and faces a steep path to take control of the Senate. Mr. Trump touted those Republican victories in his comments tonight.

On social media, his family members and allies have been calling for Republicans, like Senator Lindsey Graham, to support the president’s claims — even trying to make the issue an early litmus test for the 2024 campaign. (We haven’t even finished with 2020!) Of course, Republicans who back Mr. Trump could be throwing into question the validity of their own victories.

So with a few exceptions, they’ve largely returned to the position they often adopt with the president: silence. But it may become increasingly difficult to stay quiet. (New York Times) 

 

Tuesday October 22, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 22, 2019

Canada’s divisions have been thrown into sharp relief

December 13, 2018

The 2019 federal election confirmed deep rifts in the country – from reinvigorated Quebec nationalism to Prairie anger over stalled pipelines and a suffering economy. But the results also revealed divisions that rarely get the same attention, such as the widening gulf between cities and the aging populations of rural areas.

Returns Monday night showed the Bloc Québécois, once considered a spent force, competing for the plurality of Quebec’s 78 seats with the Liberals, powered by nationalist sentiment and greying voters; and Alberta and Saskatchewan stayed a deep shade of Conservative blue, with two isolated NDP and Liberal islands among the 48 seats.

December 1, 2016

Vast northern regions of Ontario, Manitoba and and the territories with large Indigenous populations were shades of red and orange, along with downtown Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, where there was a smattering of green. Mid-sized cities and the suburbs were the swing riding checkerboards that decided the election in the end.

The Liberal victory pitted big cities against rural regions, the North against southern cousins and the old against the young. Younger urban and northern ridings largely remained with the centre-left parties, while aging rural areas were resoundingly Conservative and Bloc Québécois.

December 20, 2018

Renewed leadership has helped drive Quebec nationalism and more robust Prairie demands, turning Quebec to the Bloc and keeping the countryside blue.

In Alberta, Jason Kenney has suggested that another term of Trudeau government would threaten national unity, while Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has been a reliable wingman, pushing Prairie interests with Ottawa.

“It’s certainly true that a Liberal victory of any kind will not be well perceived, especially by the two premiers who have gone to war against Justin Trudeau,” said Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, who taught for 17 years at universities in Alberta and Saskatchewan before moving to the Montreal think tank last year. “It will increase the tension with Ottawa with Justin Trudeau remaining in power, even as a minority [government]. A majority [would have been] a scream fest.”

July 12, 2019

Both Quebec’s second-year Premier François Legault and rookie Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet rose by promising to add urgency to provincial demands for more autonomy.

“The big winner of this election is François Legault,” said Jean-Marc Léger, founder of the polling firm that bears his name. “He was at the heart of the campaign, and after what happened in this campaign he’s going to carry a much greater weight when he makes demands.”

Mr. Léger also noted that separatist and nationalist parties garnered 70 per cent of popular support in the 2018 Quebec election and were still well over 50 per cent during most of the Liberal years, from 2003 to 2018.

August 30, 2012

“There is always a strong nationalist sentiment in Quebec,” he said. “It’s just not always apparent.”

During those Liberal years, the province was led by Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard, two of the “most federalist and least nationalist premiers in Quebec history. You have to go back to Adélard Godbout in the Second World War to find a Quebec premier who had so little interest in nationalism,” Prof. Béland said.

The rise of Quebec nationalism and deep Prairie grievance do not pose immediate existential threats to national unity. Separatism is unpopular, and Quebec nationalism and Western alienation have been part of Canadian identity for most of the country’s history.

“Regional differences may be growing at the moment, but in Canada it’s cyclical,” Prof. Béland said. “I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of regionalism or Quebec nationalism. Sometimes they go dormant or are less active, but they are always there.” (Globe & Mail)