John Davis Consulting

Partisan Incivility and Ambitious Demagogues are at the Root of the Nation’s #1 Problem

February 22, 2019       Vol. XII, No. 2         8:13 am

#1 problem is Government, poor leadership or politicians

Americans are divided into angry partisan groups who are so polarized that they do not talk with each other; groups led by ambitious demagogues claiming moral authority that must not be compromised. It is a time of partisan incivility. The #1 root cause of the nation’s #1 problem.

On Monday, February 18, 2019, Gallup released the results of its latest national survey of public opinion on the nation’s ills under the headline, Record High Name Government as Most Important Problem. The number of Americans naming “Government, poor leadership or politicians” as the nation’s #1 problem is the highest in 55 years, even higher than during the Watergate scandal.

Significantly, Gallup reports that both parties agree on the #1 problem. I repeat: both parties are tied in agreement that the #1 problem facing the nation is “Government, poor leadership or politicians.”

Causes? Of course, loyal Democrats and Republicans blame each other. However, per Gallup, “About half … blame both parties or cite ‘gridlock,’ ‘lack of cooperation.’”

Gridlock. Lack of cooperation. Growing ever worse as more Democrats become liberal and more Republicans become conservative. Per Gallup’s January 8, 2019 national study of partisan trends:

• In 1994, 25% of Democrats described themselves as liberal. Today, “for the first time ever, over half of Democrats (51%) say they are liberal;” only 13% say they are conservative.
• In 1994, 58% of Republicans described themselves as conservative. Today, 73% of Republicans say they are conservative, 22% say moderate, and only 4% say liberal.

Fueling the firestorm of partisan incivility are causes ominously similar to what 19^th Century historian John Clark Ridpath saw as among the causes of the American Civil War: “The want of intercourse,” and, “The evil influence of demagogues.”

Causes of the Civil War inflaming partisan incivility today

In the year 1876, only 11 years after the Civil War (1861-1865), John Clark Ridpath, Professor of History at Indiana Asbury University (DePauw University), published History of the United States, in which he listed five causes of the Civil War.

The first two of Ridpath’s five causes are those most often mentioned today when we talk about the War Between the States: a constitutional crisis over the sovereignty of states vis-a-vis the authority of the federal government; and the right to own slaves.

But consider the eerily familiar words Ridpath used in 1876 to describe what he saw as other leading causes of the Civil War:

Quotes from Ridpath’s third cause, “The want of intercourse between the people of the North and the South,” found in Chapter LXII, include:

• “Between the North and the South there was little … interchange of opinion. From want of acquaintance the people, without intending it, became estranged, jealous, suspicious.”
• “They misjudged each other’s motives. They misrepresented each other’s beliefs and purposes. They suspected each other of dishonesty and ill-will. Before the outbreak of the war the people of the two sections looked upon each other almost in the light of different nationalities.”

Sound familiar? Estranged, jealous, suspicious? Questioning each other’s motives? Misrepresenting each other? Suspecting each other of dishonesty and ill-will?

“The evil influence of demagogues”

Quotes from Ridpath’s fifth cause, “The evil influence of demagogues,” include:

• “Many ambitious and scheming men had come to the front, taken control of the political parties and proclaimed themselves the leaders of public opinion. Their purposes were wholly selfish.”
• “The welfare and peace of the country were put aside as of no value.”

But that’s where we find ourselves today. Under the evil influence of demagogues who believe that character assassination in defense of partisan power is no vice.

We have become a nation divided by ambitious demagogues who encourage vengefulness, jealousy and suspicion rather than collaboration and win-win solutions for the nation’s most important problems.

That’s the threshold for partisan incivility. When leaders refuse to collaborate with the other side and compromise to get things done because a win-win solution gives your opponent a win.

In January, voters told Gallup that their top policy priorities for President Trump and the Congress were, in order of importance, the Economy, Health Care Costs, Education, Terrorism, Social Security, Medicare, Poor and Needy, Environment, Immigration, Jobs, Reducing Crime, Drug Addiction, Budget Deficit, Race Relations, Military, Transportation, Climate Change and Global Trade.

But voters know that it is pointless to expect their concerns to be resolved until they, the voters, solve the #1 problem facing the nation: Poor leadership corrupted by partisan incivility.

I fully expect that in 2020 the wise people of America will assume their duty to hold all candidates for public office accountable for today’s partisan incivility, the #1 cause of the #1 problem facing the nation, “Government, poor leadership or politicians.”

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John N. Davis

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