The Curious Case of Chris Christie by Joon Lee

For a while, it seemed Chris Christie was on top of the world. He had

gained trust and popularity in the historically-left New Jersey despite being

a Republican; he had amassed a positive reputation as a firm, no-nonsense

politician; and he had secured himself as a front-runner for the 2016 GOP

candidacy.

In retrospect, it seems ludicrous that something as insignificant as a

Monday morning traffic jam could jeopardize Christie’s illustrious career.

But that was exactly what happened in early January, when it was revealed

that Christie’s top-level aides had deliberately caused traffic jams in the

New Jersey city of Fort Lee, severely hindering the transportation of com-

muters, students, and first responders. What was most disturbing about the

scandal, however, was the motive; emails circulated between Christie asso-

ciates suggest that the jams were engineered as a revenge against Fort Lee

Mayor Mark Sokolich, a democrat who had refused to support Christie.

When the news broke, Christie apologized to Sokolich and tried his

best to stop the bleeding, claiming he had no knowledge of the conspiracy.

It was too late, however; a recent poll by the Washington Post and ABC

show Christie’s approval ratings have dropped by from 52% to 35%.

It may be easy to write off this so-called “Bridgegate” scandal as just

another case of government corruption. Bridgegate, however, is not an iso-

lated incident; it is rather a manifestation of a disturbing modern trend in

American politics.

What Bridgegate shows us is the true extent of partisanship and politi-

cal hostility that we are grappling with today. As demonstrated by the scan-

dal, our current political culture is one where Democrats and Republicans

are quite literally willing to impede first-responders just to “settle scores.”

And it’s not just New Jersey; a recent study by Pew Research finds that po-

litical polarization in America is greater than it ever was. American political

life now seems to be engulfed in a strong “us vs them” mindset. Everyone -

from Capitol Hill Senators to MSNBC analysts to your great uncle - seems

to be jumping on the partisan bandwagon. At times, the sheer level of politi-

cal polarization is somewhat comical, such as when Ted Cruz began to re-

cite “Green Eggs and Ham” during his 21-hour anti-Obamacare filibuster.

And, as demonstrated by both the shutdown and the allegations against

Christie, partisanship is beginning to have a tangible impact on our every-

day lives.

Simply put, partisanship is preventing any sort of sustainable, lasting

changes from being implemented in the government. Long-term change

cannot be made without agreement and compromise from both parties, and

such bipartisan attitudes are becoming increasingly rare. Even if a one-

sided policy is pushed through Congress, it will almost always be undone

when there is a shift in administration. As soon as the Obama administra-

tion took power in 2009, for instance, Congress began to undo a large num-

ber of Bush-era policies. If such a cycle of passing and undoing policies con-

tinues, no long term change will ever be established.

So, what needs to be done to tackle partisanship? The fact of the mat-

ter is that weeding out partisanship from American society is not an

overnight task. As James Harvey Robinson once said, “partisanship is our

great curse. We too readily assume that everything has two sides and that it

is our duty to be on one or the other.” What’s true, however, is that we can-

not simply sit back and blame Washington for our woes. Combatting parti-

sanship starts from the ground up; it’s the voters who first need to take ac-

tion. Voters need to demand their elected representatives to adopt a more

bipartisan attitude. There also needs to be a fundamental change in our

voter culture, which discourages compromise and encourages hardline

politicians and one-sided policies. Some, such as former Congressman

Mickey Edwards, have also suggested the need for a reform in the election

process itself. Edwards points out that many states have “sore loser” laws,

which ban candidates who have lost in party primaries from entering the

general election ballot. Since many of the party primaries are led by hard-

headed partisans, this results in many moderate or centrist candidates from

being excluded from the ballot. In short, it is time for concrete, long-term

measures and reforms to be put into place to combat partisanship.

Chris Christie’s recent scandals hold a mirror to the state of American

partisanship and reveal the consequences of our polarized society. And the

timing could not be better; Congress is finding itself in the middle of large-

scale debates about health care, immigration, and the NSA. Hopefully, Con-

gress will learn from Christie’s mistake and pursue more bipartisan discus-

sions on Obamacare and immigration reform. If not, we can expect to find

our government going in circles without achieving any progress.

Sources

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/us/12regulate.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/17/partisan-polarization-in-

congress-and-among-public-is-greater-than-ever/

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0130/Chris-Christie-s-

national-popularity-tanks-but-poll-shows-room-to-recover

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/politics/chris-christie-bridge-primer/

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/chris-christie-bridge-scandal-

101909.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/opinion/edwards-congress-partisans/