Current Events: Checks and Balances: One-party Trifectas

The delegates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 crafted a government where each branch, level, and house would check the power of the others. Having lived under a monarchy, the Founders were most wary of a too powerful executive, and sought to divide and balance power between legislative, executive and judicial branches. They emphasized that “The People” would be sovereign, not a king. Also, the Tenth Amendment was added to indicate any power not given to the national government is reserved to the states (and the people), providing additional checks on national power. With these protections in place, the Constitution would thwart anyone from taking full control of the government. However, in the 249 years since the drafting of this document, party loyalty has complicated its plan of checks and balances. As political parties increase in influence, elected officials are pressured to vote in solidarity with fellow party members, rather than considering an issue or a candidate on merit alone. This is known as party unity. When a party wins control of the executive and both houses of the legislature, the effect is a unified government, also known as a political trifecta.

The results of the election this November indicate the national government will likely experience a ‘trifecta’ of Republican leadership starting in January. In other words, President Elect Trump will probably have the advantage of a Republican majority in both the House and Senate, and a conservative Supreme Court, with several justices he nominated in his first term. Meanwhile, many states are expecting trifectas as well. Oregon is expecting another term with a Democratic trifecta.

This week’s current event examines the consolidation of power when one political party controls the three most powerful parts of a government, either national or state. The resources below address both constitutional designs for balancing power from the 18th Century, and the political trends of imbalance happening today as a result of single party dominance. In the midst of all this political polarization, our lesson plan has students examine the data in the Similarity Hub and to see what Republican and Democrats agree on from issue to issue.

Essential Questions:

Essential Question #1 – What checks and balances are built into our national government system? What about our state government?
Essential Question #2 – What are the potential problems of a unified government, when a singular party controls the three most powerful parts of a government?
Essential Question #3 – What safeguards exist if Congress is unwilling or unable to check the power of a president? In Oregon, what happens if a state legislature is unwilling or unable to check the power of a governor?
Essential Question #4 – The Supreme Court Justices serve for life in order to keep them removed from the political aspect of elections and able to make impartial judgements. In your opinion, has this been an effective approach in checking the power of the other two branches?
Essential Question #5 – Looking at the state-level trifectas, which states do you expect to check the power of the national government in the next two years?

Vocabulary:

Unified government: one party has control over the executive branch and both chambers of the legislative branch (in the USA: wins the presidency and both houses of Congress)
Divided government: when one party controls the executive branch while another party controls one or both chambers of the legislative branch
Political trifecta: another term for unified government, one party holds the three most powerful parts of the government
Party unity: the degree to which members of a political party in Congress align with one another in their voting behavior and policy positions