The Anti-Tea Party Call for Political Reform

If you believe the rhetoric of politicians, journalists, pundits, and evangelicals, the United States is on the brink of total ruin. A rising China threatens our global hegemony both economically and militarily. Even with the fragility of the European Union called into question the US dollar is still weak against the Euro. While the US is mired in two wars and three interventions from Libya to Pakistan, China is investing heavily in African resources and advanced technology. North Korea may have nuclear weapons. A war to crack down on drugs headed to America has left 40,000 dead in Mexico. And the economy still hasn't come back to full throttle after the economic collapse of 2008. All the while, those people we expect to lead us away from the disaster on our doorstep are mired in tribal bickering that makes monkeys throwing excrement at each other look like the nuanced dialogue of an advanced civilization.

How can we avoid descending into the type of tribalism to which we so often resort - think about the assassination of Osama bin Laden or the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. These are not times to fling poo at our rivals. These are times to lead - to start the difficult discussions the country needs to have and to make the tough decisions the country needs to make. But when we are engaged in a two-sided war, competing for the power to wield the power, the political game is the only game that matters.

The frustration at seeing our politicians, our leaders, our representatives, descend into such petty mud-wrestling is what has fueled the vitriolic anger of the Tea Party movement. In fact, the Tea Party is so popular because even people who do not agree with their policy proposals associate with the movement because it so accurately expresses their anger with the established politics of the country. Many people have extraordinarily little faith in the government, and there are no other political alternatives.

But the Tea Party is reactionary. While it rightly becomes exasperated with Washington, its solution is to drastically cut the power that resides there. And while it might be appropriate to laud Tea Partiers for their commitment to the cause of governmental reform, a haphazard slashing of power so that politicians can make less of a mess of it is far from the type of considered, calculated, reasoned, rational response the country needs.

Mickey Edwards, a former congressman from Oklahoma, laid out a six-step plan to fix Congress. It hits at some of the issues of partisanship, to be sure, but it doesn't get at the underlying problem of tribalism in our society. Edwards offers a handful of solutions, but fails to put forward anything resembling comprehensive reform. And we are at a time when comprehensive reform is the only solution. Unfortunately, none exists.

But what if there were? What we need instead of slow changes to a comprehensively broken system there existed a committee of former politicians to tackle all of the issues of governmental reform. It could be lead by one Republican and on Democrat but would have the goal of doing away with all of the incentives towards two-party stagnation. Perhaps two former presidents would do the trick. Clinton and one of the Bushes? And the committee would necessarily have to comprise former members of all branches of government. And while it might be easy to find former congressmen, such a task for the judiciary might be more difficult. The committee could then look to scholars and academics, who should be incorporated across the branches anyway.

It is a bold solution, and it would be a bold move for any politician or ex-politician to support such a movement. But if such a movement does not gain traction sometime soon, either the Tea Party will do away with most of the benefits we now derive from the government altogether or we will continue in the same political gridlock that has brought us this close to the cliff. I don't know how long we can continue in this political inertia that draws us ever nearer to the precipice, but I don't think anyone wants to find out.