Edward Snowden and Pope Francis Broke America’s Political Deadlock in 2013
By Peter Beinart, December 30, 2013
On
poverty and surveillance, Democrats and Republicans finally found
some common ground.
In 2012, Barack Obama
travelled the country promising that if he defeated Mitt Romney, in
2013 the Republican Party’s “fever
may break.”
Didn’t happen. In 2013, the GOP Congress remained just as hostile
to Obamacare, citizenship for illegal immigrants, and a budget deal
that includes higher taxes as it had in 2012. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that in two areas, 2013 did witness a potential
break in the Verdun-like standoff between America’s two parties.
And the two men most responsible were completely unknown a year ago
and don’t even reside in the United States: Edward Snowden and the
Pope.
First,
Snowden. For a few years now, it’s been clear that while Cheneyism
still dominates the Republican foreign policy elite, many grassroots
conservatives are less than thrilled about a permanent, wildly
expensive “war on terror” that gives the federal government
virtually unchecked power to spy on Americans. By exposing the
breathtaking reach of National Security Agency surveillance, Snowden
empowered these conservative insurgents. In July, despite the unified
opposition of House GOP leaders, 94 House Republicans voted
to limit NSA spying.
According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of Republicans
who believe the government has gone too far in restricting civil
liberties has jumped 18 points since 2010, and now exceeds
the level among Democrats.
Spying
divides Democrats along similar lines. The party’s foreign policy
elites are more willing to trust the NSA with vast surveillance
powers, at least when they control the White House. And Democratic
leaders don’t want to jeopardize their success in overcoming the
party’s reputation as “soft on terror.” But as in the GOP, the
further you get from the centers of governmental power, the unhappier
Democrats are with NSA spying.
It’s
now possible to imagine the surveillance issue dividing insiders from
outsiders in the 2016 primaries in both parties. Chris Christie and
Rand Paul have already begun sparring
over the issue. And
it’s a good bet that whoever challenges Hillary Clinton for the
Democratic nomination will take a harder line against the Obama
administration’s record on spying and drones. Despite the
depressingly static nature of Washington partisan conflict, America’s
national security debate is being scrambled in ways not seen since
9/11. And Snowden is a big part of the reason why.
The
other figure scrambling Washington debates in a way Obama can’t is
Pope Francis. First of all, he’s helping bury the culture war. It’s
harder to claim that secular liberals threaten Christianity when
they’re madly applauding the most prominent Christian leader in the
world, and he’s applauding back. Second, Francis is fueling a
debate about economic inequality and government’s responsibility to
the poor. That’s mildly uncomfortable for Democrats, who since the
Clinton era have been more comfortable talking about the problems of
the middle class, and whose policy wonks generally believe it’s
necessary to cut entitlements. But the really interesting impact is
on the GOP. Because Francis is probably the non-American who
Republican elites revere most, and because he stands outside
Washington’s partisan scrum, his focus on poverty is convincing
some GOP leaders that they should focus on it too. From Ralph Reed
to Newt
Gingrich to Paul
Ryan,
prominent Republicans have begun talking about remaking their party
in Francis’s image. It’s unclear if they mean real policy change,
or mere rebranding. But even if leading Republicans merely shift away
from the radically individualistic, Tea Party-esque message of recent
years to something closer to George W. Bush’s “compassionate
conservatism,” it would change the tenor of America’s economic
debate in ways we haven’t seen since the financial crisis hit.
If you
look at American politics from the inside-outside out—at the fights
over Obamacare, the budget and the confirmation of nominees—it
looks predictable and depressing. But if you look from the
outside-in, you can see the way forces beyond the Beltway are
remaking the terms of Washington debate. Maybe 2013 wasn’t so bad
after all.
...................................................................................................................................................................
No comments:
Post a Comment