America, since 1787, has had a distinctive system of federalism. A number of responsibilities, such as national defense, are clearly given to the national government, but a substantial number of policy decisions rest with the 50 states.
Governors and state legislatures have been especially active in the past year. In many states, public policies have been enacted that push states politically to the far right or far left.
Colorado is just one example. Democrats took advantage of favorable gerrymandering and pushed through “progressive” legislation by raising the age limit to buy a gun. They acted on transgender rights by requiring gender-neutral bathrooms in new public buildings. They protected the right to abortion in most circumstances.
According to reports in The New York Times, what was happening in Colorado also happened in about 16 other states where Democrats dominated both houses of the Legislature and controlled the governor’s office.
Such a situation, where all three major power points — House of Representatives, Senate and governor — are controlled by one political party is nicknamed a “trifecta.”
Meanwhile, Republicans in at least 22 states, where they are in control of the Legislature and the governorship, were using their power to legislate on similar subjects but to push in a different direction — a decidedly conservative direction.
Republican trifectas pushed for enacting strict anti-abortion laws, putting curriculum restrictions in public schools, enacting gay and lesbian rights regulations, and a doubling down on gun rights.
Or put it this way: Democratic-controlled legislatures and governors limited guns, but Republican-controlled legislatures and governors made it easier to carry guns in public places. Democratic legislatures and governors expanded transgender rights, while Republican legislatures and governors limited them. Democratic legislatures and governors facilitated abortions, but Republican legislatures and governors made abortions harder to get.
The New York Times report used the term “bulldozed” to describe how the dominant party, whether Democratic or Republican, forced its legislation on the other political party. It also theorized that the taking of strong stands on the nation’s thorniest social issues left significant portions of a state’s electorate, particularly moderate and unaffiliated voters, unrepresented.
States listed in the report as single-party control Democratic included California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Washington and Colorado.
Some of the states listed as Republican dominated were Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
What is the meaning of this for Colorado?
Our Legislature is gerrymandered to favor Democrats. They have 30 safe seats in the House compared with 19 for Republicans. In the Senate, the tally is 15 safe Democratic seats and nine safe Republican. The Democrats also hold the governor’s office.
But Colorado is not exceptional; in fact, it is normal. Add 17 states dominated by Democrats to 22 states dominated by Republicans, and you get 39 of 50 states where one political party or the other has a clear advantage.
In only the remaining 11 states are Republicans and Democrats able to compete evenly for power or produce laws that have a chance of being moderate, neither far left nor far right.
It presents a confusing future in which, as one travels from state to state, abortion laws can change from permissive to strict, transgender rights be strong or nonexistent, and automatic weapons can be legal on one side of a state line and illegal on the other.
Coloradans should be aware of what is happening with state legislatures and governors nationwide. We are seeing more political polarization, with 17 liberal and progressive Democratic state governments on one side and 22 arch-conservative Republican state governments on the other.
But this is American federalism at work. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, a compromise was reached that gave some powers to the national government and reserved others to the states, That compromise is still with us.
We do not want a heavily centralized top-down governmental system. But the price we pay for that is diversity and complexity within our individual states. And right now, many of our states are tacking strongly left or decidedly right, depending on their ideological leanings.
The bottom line is a “patchworky” system that is likely to remain this way for a significant time to come.
News columnists Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy write about Colorado and national political issues.
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