Party Discipline in the United States

I followed the impeachment process of Mr. Trump to a certain extent but not very closely because I knew the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Anybody paying attention would have realized that the Democratic lead House of Representatives would bring down articles of impeachment only to have them die in the Republican lead Senate.  That is exactly what happened.  Sure there were some twists and turns in the process but it was always heading to this conclusion.

What I did find most interesting about the whole process was the end where Mitt Romney faced a major backlash for voting to convict.  His vote meant nothing.  It did not impact the final outcome one iota so the backlash against him is both interesting although not surprising.

I think we can now conclude that party discipline has arrived on the US government scene.  In such political systems as the one in my home country of Canada party discipline is an integral part of how the system works.  The system would probably break down if it did not exist because every time a sitting government loses a vote on raising or spending money it is a confidence motion.  That means if the government loses that vote they lose the confidence of the House and an election is triggered.  That would mean elections would take place much more often and government paralysis.  However, party discipline prevents that.  It is a given that Members of Parliament, of the governing party, will vote with the government on confidence motions even if they may have reservations about them.  

Contrast that to the American system which, for most of its existence, Members of the House and Senators voted any way they pleased without worrying about party discipline and they knew they could do so without any real consequences.  Indeed, many laws and policies, both good and bad, have been enacted in the US because of "defections".

That appears not to be the case any more.  Senator Romney cast a vote against his party, a vote that had no impact on the final outcome and many are calling for his ouster from the Republican Party.

This could just be a function of the current buffoon in the White House and the Senate Republican leadership or it could be the beginning of a permanent change in how politics is done in the US.  We do not know yet it will take more time to see.  However, if this is the beginning of largely ironclad party discipline in the US I am not certain it is a positive development.  I do not believe party discipline is conducive to the smooth operation of the US system.  I do not think it is built for it.

We will have to wait and see.