Partisanship, although a persistent feature of American politics, has become increasingly intense and divisive in recent years. Both parties seem convinced that the new millennium is the time for either “golden” ages or social experimentation. During the Joe Biden administration, the use of executive orders aimed to alleviate student indebtedness and other economic ills. Donald Trump has his own brand of executive fiat, challenging birthright citizenship and/or pushing tariffs.

The central feature of Biden and Trump’s overreach is that they tried to bypass Congress. Before either became president, the courts slipped past state legislatures and Congress by allowing same-sex marriages, which up to that time had not been successful in referendums.

In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, a decision that had been previously supported in 1973. Again, the electorate was bypassed once more.

Make no mistake, executive and judicial highhandedness is not just a monopoly of one party. Donald Trump and the present Supreme Court are not the exception but the rule.

This type of governance, over time, breeds resentment. Biden’s arbitrariness begat Trump’s imperial judgements. The common feature of both Democrats and Republicans is that both want their way. Consequences to the contrary. Another feature is that they take slender majorities and turn them into mandates.

Moreover, such governance creates confusion. Republicans have every right to reverse certain features of the state, including civil service, environmental protections, and how they obtain revenue. The question is why they want to rapidly and carelessly upset the political applecart.

To Trump’s mind, he sees government interference in commerce as a detriment to growth, and he celebrates “animal spirits” in this direction as essential.

For many Republicans, they have desired reduced spending for years, but they lacked the power to implement it.

However, such sweeping changes require justification, and they have provided little evidence. Although Biden’s economy was not as good as some Democrats claim, it was not as bad as the depression suffered during the 1930s.

But GOP supporters can rejoice that there was too much inflation, and workers, although they earned more, were also working multiple jobs to accrue their pay.

Trump blamed NAFTA, which he renamed during his first term, and now he wants higher tariffs to be globally extended.

It is radical, yes, but no more than Franklin Roosevelt’s first New Deal, which the Supreme Court struck down in 1935.

Trump’s problem is his lack of patience, and his boldness is not tempered by prudence. Like Biden, he wants it all and seeks change without fully considering the consequences.

Overreach is not partisan; it is an American habit that has often forced crises innumerable. Riverboat gambles are best left on the Riverboat.