The American Political Jumbo Jet

The U.S. political system is designed to make slow but sure corrections, much like a jumbo jet. Rather than making sharp adjustments, it makes wide turns and gradual course changes. Any attempt to make an extreme change in course might result in a crash, and sometimes extreme changes are even corrected automatically.  Immediate change is accomplished only with the assistance of a catastrophic event, e.g. lightning, a collision, an explosion, or very bad weather.

The American system of tripartite government excels at preventing sudden changes in policy no matter what the sentiment of the people.  There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule.  The Supreme Court, for example, can single-handedly effect change, but not in a directed fashion.  See Roe v. Wade, the legalization of abortion in the United States, in 1973.  The Supreme Court can overturn this decision if it is presented again and make abortion illegal if five or more Justices agree to overturn the 1973 verdict.  Changes in the socio-political leanings of  Justices do not happen often; neither do Supreme Court appointments.  The anticipated rulings of the Supreme Court are set up for the long haul by a sitting President to the best of his or her ability to do so, and that direction may last for many years after he or she leaves office.

The concept of checks and balances makes ramming any new law through the legislative process extremely difficult. Legislation can only be ratified when the President, a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, and a majority of the Senate all agree that it should become law. Neither house can enact anything without the other house’s assent and the President’s approval. All in all, the system works pretty well; if there’s a problem, it’s that America’s politicians are far too comfortable with the status quo, and that “kicking the can down the road” until the next Congressional or Presidential election has become de rigeur in Washington issue-centric politics. As a result, every once in a while the American political jumbo jet threatens to run out of fuel and fall out of the sky, as it recently almost did with the debt ceiling debate/debacle. Fortunately, Americans are among the best in the world at conjuring happy endings out of crisis situations.

A Hollywood director might have added a couple of over-the-top flourishes to the debt ceiling crisis – for example, a spaghetti-western-style barroom fistfight between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner – but the outcome would have been pretty much the same:  no lessons were learned, and the audience is by and large left dissatisfied. However, if Hollywood had produced the debt ceiling drama, the process might have generated some cash – and that cash could have paid America’s bills for a couple of weeks!