Irretrievable?

There will always be the greatest danger that the decision will

 be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties,

than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.

Alexander Hamilton in the “The Federalist Papers.”

 They are scared they cannot defeat us at the ballot box.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

The House vote to approve the impeachment inquiry broke down along party lines as expected. All Democrats. No Republicans. Two Democrats – Collin Peterson from Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, both from districts that supported Trump in 2016 – voted against the inquiry. That tiny defection drew some Republicans to claim disunity among their opposition. One Democrat, Donald McEachin from Virginia, and three Republicans, Jody Hice of Georgia, John Rose of Tennessee and William Timmons of South Carolina, abstained.

The Democrats have pinned their hopes on the expected result of public testimony of those with firsthand knowledge of the President’s purported “quid pro quo” – trading American security to counter Russian ambitions in Ukraine and against the West in exchange for political ammunition to be used by Donald Trump in the upcoming 2020 elections. Perhaps, the Dems reason, if Americans actually heard firsthand what happened, some Republicans will break rank… and pull a miraculous vote in the GOP-controlled (Mitch McConnell-controlled?) Senate to oust Trump. Or at least so poison the President’s credibility that he will either resign (a la Nixon) or be landslided out of office in the election.

Republicans have a pile of power no matter the vote. That ultra-loyal base seems unwaivable in support of Donald Trump, some bellowing that if Trump goes, they will take up arms in support of his reign. Republicans need that base to win elections. With nothing material making its way through Congress as each side digs in, since appropriations bills must emanate from the Democratic-controlled House, Republicans can argue that the wasted effort to remove Trump is both an attempt to usurp the will of the people from the 2016 election and a complete abrogation of the Dems duty to do the people’s business, without meaningless distraction, and pass needed legislation on myriad issues. That resonates with some independents.

Those Republicans in more moderate states can even eschew the “witch hunt” mantra and opt for higher moral ground. The President, they can say, may have acted improperly – in a manner that they personally find morally objectionable – but his offenses did not rise to the level of impeachment, and with an election so close, they would prefer that the issue be decided directly by the people. No doubt, this is high stakes poker. The more the Democrats move to the left, the easier the GOP’s case will be to the disenchanted unaffiliated and swing-deciding independents and older, blue dog Democrats. 

Republicans are praying for leftist Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders as these two office-seekers have, at least for now, usurped more moderate candidates’ standing in the polls. Republicans believe that even if either of these candidates wins the presidency, he or she will be unable to implement their agenda through Congress and leave the same bitter partisan taste with American voters that has typified the Trump years. There are no winners in the longer term.

Younger and more college educated Americans are aghast at both parties. Climate change and artificial intelligence terrify them. The rise of autocrats with US support disgusts them. The surge in income inequality and the accelerating cost of living, the fact that the jobs they can get do not remotely begin to cover student loans and housing, hurts them. Both political parties seem anachronistic and out of touch. Government is slow, prodding and unable to accomplish the obvious. Religiosity has a greater impact on policy than fact. They’re the ones who have experienced the “active shooter” drills in school.

The Republicans, even if Trump retains the presidency, will be tainted for the foreseeable future as the party that suborned an obvious corrupt and selfish president. The God party that shoveled money and privilege to the wealthy. The party that voted to support tax cuts and against desperately needed reforms. It is increasingly harder to be young and a Trump-Republican outside of rural value states; the United States is now a nation of cities, a seminal change in day-to-day core values and life requirements. The Dems will be tainted with their inability to pass all the lovely programs they promise through the cumbersome political process, an impractical party that just cannot get out of its own way. Disunified, particularly when compared to the GOP, by too many factions with mutually exclusive goals. The Bickersons, if you will. 

Between the political divide, people don’t even talk to each other. Families and marriages actually break apart over political differences. “Compromise” has left the building. Hope for a bright future and upward mobility stare at a brick wall. Natural disasters, most linked to climate change, have accelerated in intensity and frequency. The American educational system is both expensive and decreasingly globally competitive. Our infrastructure is a sad joke. Millions of Americans face medical bankruptcy or inadequate medical care. 

The nation is watching a demographic bulge of older people who will increase pressures for support from the younger segments of our nation. Our political system is failing at every level, and the young know that they will be saddled with the consequences of this inane political legacy, the massive deficits that they will have to repay.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and I am particularly saddened at the lack of viable political candidates who have any notion on how to bring this nation back into a working togetherness, one that tolerates differences but finds practical solutions to keep the republic on track.