Ford School talk about promoting bipartisanship devolves into partisanship

By Jacob Kuiper
Staff Writer

The University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy recently had two former Michigan congressmen, Democrat Andy Levin and Republican Peter Meijer, attend to talk about ways to promote bipartisanship and restore confidence in our democracy. The event was guided by retired Ambassador and UM professor Susan Page.

The event started off with a simple question: “What does bipartisan leadership mean to you?” Despite being an event promoting bipartisanship, partisan barbs quickly came out. “Our problem isn’t a lack of bipartisanship. It’s that one of our parties has gone off the reservation of democracy all together” answered Levin, offering a thinly veiled jab at the GOP. Meijer similarly responded with a jab at former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her response to legislation he had worked on as a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, “Speaker Pelosi found out what we were working on and shut it down very quickly.”

The next question offered no relief to the argument. When asked about what policies could be implemented to facilitate a bipartisan healing, Levin was quick to lay out parts of H.R. 1, also known as the For the People Act, a sweeping election law package laid out by Democrats in 2019. H.R. 1 was passed along party lines in the House of Representatives and died to the filibuster in the Senate. Meijer dismissed it as a “nonstarter” and visibly bristled at the thought of the federal government forcing a change this large on our largely decentralized electoral system, one that he champions.

The conversation continued with an argument about the validity of parts of the bill, with Levin expressing Democrats’ go-it-alone nature on the bill, nearly denouncing bipartisanship all together, “Bipartisanship isn’t the answer for everything. The people of Michigan…because of our Republican legislature [in 2018 and 2020]…had to take the darn matter into our own hands and pass…ballot initiatives.”

As the conversation continued to the next question about how to increase confidence in our elections, the discussion was again derailed by partisan bickering. Levin offered his most pointed criticism of the GOP yet saying “The Republican Party has a national systemic program to prevent people from voting in this country in state legislature after state legislature.” This ignites a dispute between the two over various partisan boogeymen to which Page has to cut in, “OK…OK…clearly we can have another conversation about this.”

It is not until the end of the discussion that true concrete ideas emerge. Levin explains that the impersonalism of our current government is a major roadblock to more cooperation, “The important thing is to build real relationships across the aisle…personal relationships. Find something that you have in common [with another congressperson] and work on that issue.”

Meijer echos that animosity between lawmakers is a major hindrance to progress, “If we can’t agree on what the problem is, you’re not going to be able to agree on a solution or make progress towards a solution, and if you deny that that even is a problem, then you’re not getting to a point where you can have any of those conversations.”

Meijer also suggests that certain electoral reforms like the elimination of partisan primaries and the implementation of instant runoff mechanics could help elect more consensus makers. “You are incentivising candidates to appeal to a slimmer section of the electorate rather than going more broadly,” he said, speaking of partisan primaries.

However, the conversation does end on an inspiring note. When asked what advice they would have for current Ford School students looking to work in public service, both men encouraged young people to set their sights high.

“Go out and do something you believe in,” Levin said. Meijer supports this saying, “Find an area that interests you. Find an area that maintains your curiosity and then everything else will unfold once you’re in there.”

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