Gridlock is back on Capitol Hill
Was it a blue wave? A blue ripple? That “big victory” for President Trump? Or “a new day in America” for Nancy Pelosi? Well, the pundits have spent the last two weeks putting everything in the win and loss columns and the only thing they seem to be able to agree on is that there were some wins and some losses.
One thing we don’t need is someone with a political science degree to tell us is that the Democrats control the House and Republicans control the Senate. Without some grand consensus suddenly overcoming the growing partisan divide, don’t count on a whole lot getting done. Gridlock is back on Capitol Hill.
It’s not all bad news though. In fact, it has always seemed dubious why we measure congressional productivity by the number of bills signed into law. Are fewer laws emanating out of Washington, D.C., really such a bad thing? If anything, a divided Congress puts the focus back where it belongs — in the states.
On important issues like education, the states are leading and that’s a good thing. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to government, the states are looking at the issues through 50 different lenses that better reflect the vastness of our country and its changing landscapes.
