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50/50 Senate Split History: A Balancing Act of Power and Gridlock
Author: Dr. Eleanor Vance, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Georgetown University. Dr. Vance has published extensively on legislative gridlock, Senate procedure, and the dynamics of divided government. Her work has been featured in leading academic journals and widely cited by policymakers.
Keywords: 50/50 Senate split history, Senate deadlock, divided government, legislative gridlock, Vice President's role, Senate procedure, filibuster, legislative compromise, political polarization.
Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical occurrences of 50/50 Senate splits, examining the unique challenges and opportunities presented by such a delicate balance of power. It explores the impact on legislative productivity, the amplified role of the Vice President, and the strategies employed by both parties to navigate this precarious political landscape.
Introduction: A 50/50 Senate split, where the number of Republican and Democratic senators is perfectly equal, is a rare but increasingly prevalent occurrence in American political history. Unlike a clearly divided Senate with a majority party, a 50/50 split fundamentally alters the dynamics of legislative power. This examination delves into the history of these instances, exploring the recurring challenges and the surprising opportunities that emerge from this precarious equilibrium. Understanding the 50/50 Senate split history offers crucial insights into the workings of American democracy and the ever-evolving relationship between political parties.
The Mechanics of a 50/50 Senate: A History of Tiebreakers
The 50/50 Senate split history is intrinsically linked to the role of the Vice President as President of the Senate. The Constitution grants the Vice President the power to cast a tie-breaking vote, effectively giving them significant influence over the legislative agenda. This singular power becomes amplified during periods of a 50/50 split. Historically, this power has been utilized on critical votes, dramatically shifting the balance of power and influencing the course of legislation. Examining instances throughout history where the Vice President played this pivotal role reveals how this seemingly small power can have significant ramifications.
The history of 50/50 Senate splits reveals distinct patterns in how the parties approach governance. The absence of a clear majority necessitates a greater reliance on bipartisan cooperation, at least theoretically. However, the reality often deviates from this ideal. Increased reliance on procedural maneuvers, such as the filibuster, is frequently observed in these situations, further contributing to legislative gridlock. Examining the utilization of these tools in previous 50/50 Senate splits offers valuable insights into the strategies employed by each party to advance their agendas.
Challenges of a 50/50 Senate: Gridlock and Political Polarization
The most prominent challenge presented by a 50/50 Senate split history is the potential for legislative gridlock. The absence of a clear majority empowers individual senators to exert disproportionate influence, frequently utilizing procedural tactics to delay or obstruct legislation. This can lead to a significant reduction in legislative productivity, leaving important issues unresolved and hindering the government's ability to address pressing national challenges. Analyzing specific instances of legislative gridlock during periods of a 50/50 Senate split reveals the consequences of such political stalemate.
Furthermore, the heightened political polarization that often accompanies a 50/50 Senate exacerbates the challenges. The narrow margin of control leads to heightened partisan conflict, with both parties fiercely vying for control over the legislative agenda. This often results in heightened rhetoric and a decline in bipartisanship, further compounding the difficulty in passing legislation. Examining the rhetoric and legislative maneuvering during various 50/50 Senate splits illustrates the impact of polarization on legislative effectiveness.
Opportunities of a 50/50 Senate: The Potential for Compromise
Despite the significant challenges, a 50/50 Senate split history also reveals potential opportunities. The necessity of securing at least one vote from the opposing party to pass legislation incentivizes bipartisan cooperation and compromise. This can lead to the development of more moderate and broadly supported policies, reflecting a greater consensus among the electorate. Analyzing instances where bipartisan compromise resulted in the passage of significant legislation provides valuable lessons on effective negotiation and policymaking.
Moreover, a 50/50 Senate can act as a check on unchecked power, preventing either party from pushing through extreme or partisan legislation without the support of at least a portion of the opposing party. This can enhance democratic accountability and contribute to a more balanced and representative form of government. By studying the specific outcomes of bills passed during 50/50 Senate periods, we can assess the overall impact on policy development and governance.
The Role of the Vice President: A Powerful Swing Vote
The Vice President's role as tie-breaker in a 50/50 Senate cannot be overstated. Their vote becomes a pivotal moment in shaping the legislative landscape, making the office a significantly more powerful position during these periods. Historically, Vice Presidents have used this power to advance their own political agendas or those of their party, illustrating the direct impact this position can have on policy outcomes. Analyzing the voting records of Vice Presidents during 50/50 Senate splits provides critical insights into the unique influence of this office.
The impact extends beyond individual votes. The mere presence of a tie-breaking vote can incentivize negotiation and compromise from both parties, as senators seek to secure the Vice President's support or anticipate their opposition. This can shape the content and direction of legislation, potentially leading to different outcomes than would occur in a Senate with a clear majority. Analyzing the influence of the Vice President beyond their actual votes reveals a multifaceted impact on the legislative process.
Conclusion
The 50/50 Senate split history is a compelling case study in the complexities of American governance. While these periods often lead to legislative gridlock and heightened political polarization, they also present opportunities for bipartisan cooperation and compromise. The amplified role of the Vice President, and the necessity of finding common ground, shape the dynamics of power and influence the ultimate direction of policy. Understanding these past occurrences is vital for navigating the challenges and harnessing the potential of future 50/50 Senate splits.
FAQs:
1. How often has the Senate been split 50/50? A 50/50 Senate split is relatively rare but has occurred several times throughout American history, with increasing frequency in recent decades.
2. What is the impact of a 50/50 Senate on legislative productivity? Studies suggest a 50/50 Senate often leads to decreased legislative productivity due to increased gridlock and partisan conflict.
3. How does a 50/50 Senate affect the role of the Vice President? The Vice President's tie-breaking vote becomes significantly more influential in a 50/50 Senate, giving them considerable power over legislative outcomes.
4. Does a 50/50 Senate lead to more bipartisan legislation? While it necessitates some level of bipartisanship, a 50/50 Senate doesn't guarantee increased bipartisan legislation; the potential for gridlock remains high.
5. How does the filibuster affect a 50/50 Senate? The filibuster becomes a potent tool in a 50/50 Senate, potentially leading to further delays and obstruction of legislation.
6. What are some examples of significant legislation passed (or not passed) during a 50/50 Senate? Examples include specific bills passed or blocked during such periods, highlighting the impact of the split on policy outcomes.
7. How do 50/50 Senate splits compare to other forms of divided government? A 50/50 Senate represents a unique form of divided government, distinct from situations where one party controls the Senate but the other holds the presidency.
8. What strategies do parties employ to overcome gridlock in a 50/50 Senate? Parties may utilize various strategies including negotiation, compromise, and strategic use of procedural rules to advance their agendas.
9. What are the long-term implications of frequent 50/50 Senate splits for American democracy? The frequent occurrences of 50/50 Senates may indicate underlying shifts in the American political landscape and raise questions about the stability and effectiveness of the legislative process.
Related Articles:
1. "The Impact of the Vice Presidency in 50/50 Senates: A Historical Analysis": Examines the influence of Vice Presidents on legislative outcomes during periods of evenly divided Senates.
2. "Legislative Gridlock in 50/50 Senates: A Case Study of the 116th Congress": Analyzes specific legislative challenges and outcomes during a recent 50/50 Senate.
3. "Bipartisanship and Compromise in Evenly Divided Senates: Myth or Reality?": Evaluates the extent to which bipartisan cooperation occurs during periods of 50/50 Senate splits.
4. "The Filibuster's Role in Shaping Legislative Outcomes in 50/50 Senates": Explores the use and impact of the filibuster in evenly divided Senates.
5. "The Role of the Senate Majority Leader in a 50/50 Senate: Navigating a Precarious Balance": Analyzes the challenges and strategies employed by Senate Majority Leaders during periods of equal party representation.
6. "Public Opinion and 50/50 Senate Splits: Assessing the Electorate's Response to Gridlock": Examines public sentiment towards legislative productivity and partisan conflict in evenly divided Senates.
7. "Comparing 50/50 Senate Splits Across Different Eras of American Politics": A comparative study examining the distinct characteristics of 50/50 Senates in different historical contexts.
8. "The Impact of 50/50 Senate Splits on Presidential Power and Influence": Explores how a 50/50 Senate affects the President's ability to advance their legislative agenda.
9. "Predicting Future 50/50 Senate Splits: Analyzing Demographic and Political Trends": A forward-looking analysis of factors that might contribute to future instances of evenly divided Senates.
Publisher: The Brookings Institution Press. Brookings is a highly respected non-profit public policy organization renowned for its rigorous research and analysis on a wide range of policy issues, including governance and political science.
Editor: Dr. Robert Michaelson, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Congressional Studies at Brookings. Dr. Michaelson has extensive expertise in legislative processes, political parties, and American political history.
| 50 50 senate split history: Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy Adam Jentleson, 2021-01-12 With a new epilogue on filibuster battles under the Biden administration THE CASE FOR ENDING THE FILIBUSTER A truly excellent book… blistering and persuasive.” —Ezra Klein, New York Times An insider’s account of how politicians representing a radical white minority of Americans have used “the world’s greatest deliberative body” to hijack our democracy. Our democracy is under assault from homegrown authoritarians, with most observers blaming Donald Trump and the Republican Party that submitted to him. Yet as Adam Jentleson shows, the problem not only goes back to the nineteenth century, but is less about the presidency than it is about our nation’s most venerated institution: the United States Senate. A revelatory history of minority rule in America as expressed through the Senate filibuster, Kill Switch shows that white conservatives have long relied on the filibuster—which is not featured in the Constitution, and which, as Jentleson demonstrates, the Framers would have opposed—to shut down attempts to create a multiracial democracy. Featuring a new epilogue on filibuster battles under the Biden administration, Kill Switch will remain an essential warning about the costs of empowering this nation’s right-wing minority. • “Jentleson understands the inner workings of the institution, down to the most granular details, showing precisely how arcane procedural rules can be leveraged to dramatic effect.” —Jennifer Szalai, New York Times • “Careful and thorough and exacting.” —Michael Tomasky, New York Review of Books • “[An] excellent, surprising new book.” —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker |
| 50 50 senate split history: Like No Other Time Tom Daschle, Michael D'Orso, 2003-11-04 Tom Daschle, the Majority Leader of the historic 107th Senate, presents a candid insider’s account of the workings of the U.S. government during two of the most tumultuous years in the nation’s history. The 107th Congress faced a time like no other in the life of the nation. This was the era of the first presidential election to be decided by the United States Supreme Court, the fifty-fifty Senate, the horror of September 11, the anthrax attacks on media and the government (including Daschle’s own office), the war on terrorism, corporate scandals that shook the economy, the inexorable move toward war with Iraq, and other dramatic events, all leading up to the historic midterm elections of 2002. Through it all, Senator Tom Daschle had, with the exception of the President, the most privileged view of these unfolding developments, both in front of and behind the closed doors of government. In Like No Other Time, Daschle offers a riveting account of his singular perspective on a time when the nation faced deadly and elusive external enemies and a level of domestic political contention rarely seen in American history. Senator Daschle is un-flinching in his impressions of the key political figures of our time from both parties. The result is an acutely perceptive assessment of how our government met—and sometimes did not meet—the challenges of a remarkable era. As it was during the years of the 107th Congress, the United States is once again at a critical and historic crossroads. Our choices, based on what we have learned from our recent past, will affect our future in profound ways. For Senator Daschle, the first and perhaps most important choice lies with what kind of representation and leadership we want in government. It is a choice between a political party with a core philosophical belief in the power of our collective will to confront these challenges through our government, and one dominated by a group of people who don’t like and don’t believe in government. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Model Rules of Professional Conduct American Bar Association. House of Delegates, Center for Professional Responsibility (American Bar Association), 2007 The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Crisis Point Trent Lott, Tom Daschle, Jon Sternfeld, 2016-01-19 With a new afterword on the 2016 election Trent Lott and Tom Daschle, two of the most prominent senators of recent time, served as leaders of their respective parties from the 1990s to the current century. Their congressional tenure saw the Reagan tax cuts, the Clinton impeachment, 9/11, and the Iraq War. Despite stark ideological differences, the two have always maintained a positive working relationship--even a warm friendship--the kind that in today's hyper-partisan climate has become unthinkable. In Crisis Point, Lott and Daschle come together to sound an alarm on the current polarization that has made governing all but impossible; never before has faith in government been so dismally low. The senators itemize damaging forces--the permanent campaign, unprecedented money, the 24/7 news cycle--and offer practical recommendations, pointing the way forward. Most crucially, they recall the American people, especially our leaders, to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, and to the necessity of debate but also the imperative of compromise--which will take vision and courage to bring back. Illustrated with personal stories from their eminent careers and events cited from deeper in American history, Crisis Point is an invaluable work--one of conscience as well as duty, written with passion and eloquence by two men who have dedicated their lives to public service and share the conviction that all is far from lost. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Exceptions to the Rule Molly E. Reynolds, 2017-07-18 Special rules enable the Senate to act despite the filibuster. Sometimes. Most people believe that, in today's partisan environment, the filibuster prevents the Senate from acting on all but the least controversial matters. But this is not exactly correct. In fact, the Senate since the 1970s has created a series of special rules—described by Molly Reynolds as “majoritarian exceptions”—that limit debate on a wide range of measures on the Senate floor. The details of these exemptions might sound arcane and technical, but in practice they have enabled the Senate to act even when it otherwise seemed paralyzed. Important examples include procedures used to pass the annual congressional budget resolution, enact budget reconciliation bills, review proposals to close military bases, attempt to prevent arms sales, ratify trade agreements, and reconsider regulations promulgated by the executive branch. Reynolds argues that these procedures represent a key instrument of majority party power in the Senate. They allow the majority—even if it does not have the sixty votes needed to block a filibuster—to produce policies that will improve its future electoral prospects, and thus increase the chances it remains the majority party. As a case study, Exceptions to the Rule examines the Senate's role in the budget reconciliation process, in which particular congressional committees are charged with developing procedurally protected proposals to alter certain federal programs in their jurisdictions. Created as a way of helping Congress work through tricky budget issues, the reconciliation process has become a powerful tool for the majority party to bypass the minority and adopt policy changes in hopes that it will benefit in the next election cycle. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Broken Ira Shapiro, 2018-01-15 While the hyper-partisanship in Washington that has stunned the world has been building for decades, Ira Shapiro argues that the U.S. Senate has suffered most acutely from the loss of its political center. In Broken, Ira Shapiro, a former senior Senate staffer and author of the critically-acclaimed book The Last Great Senate, offers an expert’s account of some of the most prominent battles of the past decade and lays out what must be done to restore the Senate’s lost luster. Shapiro places the Senate at “ground zero for America’s political dysfunction”--the institution that has failed the longest and the worst. Because the Senate, at its best, represented the special place where the Democrats and Republicans worked together to transcend ideological and regional differences and find common ground, its decline has intensified the nation’s polarization, by institutionalizing it at the highest level. Shapiro documents this decline and evaluates the prospects of restoration that could provide a way out of the polarized morass that has engulfed Congress. With a narrative that runs right through the first year of the Trump presidency, Broken will be essential reading for all concerned about the state of American politics and the future of our country. |
| 50 50 senate split history: The Longest Debate Charles W. Whalen, Barbara Whalen, 1985 Describes how some of the decade's most important legislation made its way through Congress. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Insecure Majorities Frances E. Lee, 2016-08-23 “[A] tour de force. Building upon her argument in Beyond Ideology, she adds an important wrinkle into the current divide between the parties in Congress.” —Perspectives on Politics As Democrats and Republicans continue to vie for political advantage, Congress remains paralyzed by partisan conflict. That the last two decades have seen some of the least productive Congresses in recent history is usually explained by the growing ideological gulf between the parties, but this explanation misses another fundamental factor influencing the dynamic. In contrast to politics through most of the twentieth century, the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties compete for control of Congress at relative parity, and this has dramatically changed the parties’ incentives and strategies in ways that have driven the contentious partisanship characteristic of contemporary American politics. With Insecure Majorities, Frances E. Lee offers a controversial new perspective on the rise of congressional party conflict, showing how the shift in competitive circumstances has had a profound impact on how Democrats and Republicans interact. Beginning in the 1980s, most elections since have offered the prospect of a change of party control. Lee shows, through an impressive range of interviews and analysis, how competition for control of the government drives members of both parties to participate in actions that promote their own party’s image and undercut that of the opposition, including the perpetual hunt for issues that can score political points by putting the opposing party on the wrong side of public opinion. More often than not, this strategy stands in the way of productive bipartisan cooperation—and it is also unlikely to change as long as control of the government remains within reach for both parties. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Vital Statistics on Congress, 1991-1992 Norman J. Ornstein, 1991-09 |
| 50 50 senate split history: Congressional Record United States. Congress, 1968 |
| 50 50 senate split history: Defending the Filibuster Richard A. Arenberg, Robert B. Dove, 2012-08-21 Offers a stimulating assessment of the issues surrounding current debates on the filibuster |
| 50 50 senate split history: The Second Civil War Ronald Brownstein, 2008-09-30 In recent years American politics has seemingly become much more partisan, more zero-sum, more vicious, and less able to confront the real problems our nation faces. What has happened? In The Second Civil War, respected political commentator Ronald Brownstein diagnoses the electoral, demographic, and institutional forces that have wreaked such change over the American political landscape, pulling politics into the margins and leaving precious little common ground for compromise. The Second Civil War is not a book for Democrats or Republicans but for all Americans who are disturbed by our current political dysfunction and hungry for ways to understand it—and move beyond it. |
| 50 50 senate split history: A Fire Upon The Deep Vernor Vinge, 2010-04-01 Now with a new introduction for the Tor Essentials line, A Fire Upon the Deep is sure to bring a new generation of SF fans to Vinge's award-winning works. A Hugo Award-winning Novel! “Vinge is one of the best visionary writers of SF today.”-David Brin Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures, and technology, can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these regions of thought, but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing this galactic threat, Ravna crash lands on a strange world with a ship-hold full of cryogenically frozen children, the only survivors from a destroyed space-lab. They are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. Tor books by Vernor Vinge Zones of Thought Series A Fire Upon The Deep A Deepness In The Sky The Children of The Sky Realtime/Bobble Series The Peace War Marooned in Realtime Other Novels The Witling Tatja Grimm's World Rainbows End Collections Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge True Names At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Supreme Ambition Ruth Marcus, 2020-11-17 The Washington Post journalist and legal expert Ruth Marcus goes behind the scenes to document the inside story of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle and the Republican plot to take over the Supreme Court—thirty years in the making—in this “impressively reported, highly insightful, and rollicking good read” (The New York Times Book Review). In the summer of 2018 the Kavanaugh drama unfolded so fast it seemed to come out of nowhere. With the power of the #MeToo movement behind her, a terrified but composed Christine Blasey Ford walked into a Senate hearing room to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault. This unleashed unprecedented fury from a Supreme Court nominee who accused Democrats of a “calculated and orchestrated political hit.” But behind this showdown was a much bigger one. The Washington Post journalist and legal expert Ruth Marcus documents the thirty-year mission by conservatives to win a majority on the Supreme Court and the lifelong ambition of Brett Kavanaugh to secure his place in that victory. The reporting in Supreme Ambition is full of revealing and weighty headlines, as Marcus answers the most pressing questions surrounding this historical moment: How did Kavanaugh get the nomination? Was Blasey Ford’s testimony credible? What does his confirmation mean for the future of the court? Were the Democrats outgunned from the start? On the way, she uncovers secret White House meetings, intense lobbying efforts, private confrontations on Capitol Hill, and lives forever upended on both coasts. This “extraordinarily detailed” (The Washington Post) page-turner traces how Brett Kavanaugh deftly maneuvered to become the nominee and how he quashed resistance from Republicans and from a president reluctant to reward a George W. Bush loyalist. It shows a Republican party that had concluded Kavanaugh was too big to fail, with senators and the FBI ignoring potentially devastating evidence against him. And it paints a picture of Democratic leaders unwilling to engage in the no-holds-barred partisan warfare that might have defeated the nominee. In the tradition of The Brethren and The Power Broker, Supreme Ambition is the definitive account of a pivotal moment in modern history, one that will shape the judicial system of America for generations to come. |
| 50 50 senate split history: History of the Unified Command Plan Edward J. Drea, 2013 |
| 50 50 senate split history: The Big Sort Bill Bishop, 2009-05-11 The award-winning journalist reveals the untold story of why America is so culturally and politically divided in this groundbreaking book. Armed with startling demographic data, Bill Bishop demonstrates how Americans have spent decades sorting themselves into alarmingly homogeneous communities—not by region or by state, but by city and neighborhood. With ever-increasing specificity, we choose the communities and media that are compatible with our lifestyles and beliefs. The result is a country that has become so ideologically inbred that people don't know and can't understand those who live just a few miles away. In The Big Sort, Bishop explores how this phenomenon came to be, and its dire implications for our country. He begins with stories about how we live today and then draws on history, economics, and our changing political landscape to create one of the most compelling big-picture accounts of America in recent memory. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Legislative Process Abner J. Mikva, Eric Lane, Michael J. Gerhardt, Daniel J. Hemel, 2022-09-15 Legislative Process is the only casebook that provides in-depth coverage of the goals, structures, processes, powers, and rules of Congress and its committees and subcommittees. With its extraordinarily impressive authorship team consisting of Abner J. Mikva, Eric Lane, Michael Gerhardt, and Daniel Hemel (each of whom has had significant legislative experience), this important casebook serves as an insider's perspective on the legislative process. The book takes a practical and process-oriented approach. It provides historical context on the role and drafting and interpretation of statutes, and includes extensive use of primary materials, including bills and statutes, committee reports and debates, legislative rules, constitutional provisions and other legislative authorities, and judicial decisions. New to the Fifth Edition: Up-to-date legislative and judicial developments regarding the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Affordable Care Act, the budget process, and other landmark congressional statutes In-depth analyses of the two impeachments of Donald Trump and Supreme Court confirmation proceedings over the last few decades Comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms, besides impeachment, for holding presidents accountable for their misconduct Consideration of various proposals for reforming the federal law-making process Professors and students will benefit from: The detailed descriptions of the law-making process within Congress Comprehensive analysis of the relative scope of major congressional powers Inside accounts of legislative activities, including committee and subcommittee work The use of the casebook as a handbook for anyone interested in knowing more, or working in, Congress or state legislatures |
| 50 50 senate split history: Virginia in the Vanguard Frank B. Atkinson, 2006 Virginia in the Vanguard continues the story begun in The Dynamic Dominion, detailing the resurgence of Virginia's Democratic Party in the 1980s and the Republicans' efforts to turn back the gains made by Chuck Robb and Douglas Wilder. It closes with Democrat Tim Kaine taking the governor's seat and former Republican and Democratic governors George Allen and Mark Warner poised to enter the 2008 presidential primaries. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on Appropriations United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations, 1972 |
| 50 50 senate split history: Seidman's Legislative History of Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Laws, 1953-1939 Jacob Stewart Seidman, 2003 |
| 50 50 senate split history: Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance, 2016-06-28 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A riveting book.—The Wall Street Journal Essential reading.—David Brooks, New York Times From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history. A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country. |
| 50 50 senate split history: The Passage of Power Robert A. Caro, 2012-05-01 WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE, THE MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE, THE AMERICAN HISTORY BOOK PRIZE Book Four of Robert A. Caro’s monumental The Years of Lyndon Johnson displays all the narrative energy and illuminating insight that led the Times of London to acclaim it as “one of the truly great political biographies of the modern age. A masterpiece.” The Passage of Power follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career—1958 to1964. It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power he had created for himself as Senate Majority Leader for what became the wretched powerlessness of a Vice President in an administration that disdained and distrusted him. Yet it was, as well, the time in which the presidency, the goal he had always pursued, would be thrust upon him in the moment it took an assassin’s bullet to reach its mark. By 1958, as Johnson began to maneuver for the presidency, he was known as one of the most brilliant politicians of his time, the greatest Senate Leader in our history. But the 1960 nomination would go to the young senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Caro gives us an unparalleled account of the machinations behind both the nomination and Kennedy’s decision to offer Johnson the vice presidency, revealing the extent of Robert Kennedy’s efforts to force Johnson off the ticket. With the consummate skill of a master storyteller, he exposes the savage animosity between Johnson and Kennedy’s younger brother, portraying one of America’s great political feuds. Yet Robert Kennedy’s overt contempt for Johnson was only part of the burden of humiliation and isolation he bore as Vice President. With a singular understanding of Johnson’s heart and mind, Caro describes what it was like for this mighty politician to find himself altogether powerless in a world in which power is the crucial commodity. For the first time, in Caro’s breathtakingly vivid narrative, we see the Kennedy assassination through Lyndon Johnson’s eyes. We watch Johnson step into the presidency, inheriting a staff fiercely loyal to his slain predecessor; a Congress determined to retain its power over the executive branch; and a nation in shock and mourning. We see how within weeks—grasping the reins of the presidency with supreme mastery—he propels through Congress essential legislation that at the time of Kennedy’s death seemed hopelessly logjammed and seizes on a dormant Kennedy program to create the revolutionary War on Poverty. Caro makes clear how the political genius with which Johnson had ruled the Senate now enabled him to make the presidency wholly his own. This was without doubt Johnson’s finest hour, before his aspirations and accomplishments were overshadowed and eroded by the trap of Vietnam. In its exploration of this pivotal period in Johnson’s life—and in the life of the nation—The Passage of Power is not only the story of how he surmounted unprecedented obstacles in order to fulfill the highest purpose of the presidency but is, as well, a revelation of both the pragmatic potential in the presidency and what can be accomplished when the chief executive has the vision and determination to move beyond the pragmatic and initiate programs designed to transform a nation. It is an epic story told with a depth of detail possible only through the peerless research that forms the foundation of Robert Caro’s work, confirming Nicholas von Hoffman’s verdict that “Caro has changed the art of political biography.” |
| 50 50 senate split history: Presidential Leadership George C. Edwards, Kenneth R. Mayer, Stephen J. Wayne, 2024-01-24 This classic text on the American presidency analyzes the institution and the presidents who hold the office through the key lens of leadership. Edwards, Mayer, and Wayne explain the leadership dilemma presidents face and their institutional, political, and personal capacities to meet it. Two models of presidential leadership help us understand the institution: one in which a strong president dominates the political environment as a director of change, and another in which the president performs a more limited role as facilitator of change. Each model provides an insightful perspectives to better understand leadership in the modern presidency and to evaluate the performance of individual presidents. With no simple formula for presidential success, and no partisan perspective driving the analysis, the authors help us understand that presidents and citizens alike must understand the nature of presidential leadership in a pluralistic system in which separate institutions share powers. This fully revised thirteenth edition is fully updated through the Biden administration, with recent policy developments, the 2022 midterm elections, changes to the media environment, and the latest data. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Committee on Pain Management and Regulatory Strategies to Address Prescription Opioid Abuse, 2017-09-28 Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Legislative Branch Appropriations United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations, 2003 |
| 50 50 senate split history: Attack Politics Emmett H. Buell Jr., Lee Sigelman, 2009-09-01 This second edition of Attack Politics updates Emmett Buell and Lee Sigelman's highly regarded study of negativity in presidential campaigns since 1960 with a substantial new chapter on the 2008 contest between Barack Obama and John McCain. That campaign, the authors contend, proved to be the least negative in the last half century and reinforces their central argument that these campaigns have actually not grown dirtier and more negative since the election of JFK. In this new edition, Buell and Sigelman address the same questions that guided their research in the original book. Who attacked whom? How frequently? On what issues? In what ways? And at what point in the race? They also update their analysis of whether presidential campaigns have gotten more negative since 1960, whether opposing sides addressed the same issues or avoided subjects owned by the other side, and whether trailing candidates wage more negative campaigns than leading candidates. The authors expand their analysis well beyond their original research base-17,000 campaign statements extracted from nearly 11,000 news items in the New York Times—focusing on both presidential and vice-presidential nominees as sources and targets of attacks and examining the actions of surrogate campaigners. They also compare their findings with previously published accounts of these campaigns—including firsthand accounts by candidates and their confidants. Each chapter features echoes from the campaign trail that reflect the invective exchanged by rival campaigns. Their new chapter shows that, rather than neatly resembling either of their typology's extremes (runaways or dead heats), the 2008 race began as a dead heat in late summer but began to take on all the characteristics of a somewhat competitive affair by the end of September. Campaign discourse that began with an anticipated focus on the Iraq War and other national security issues came to be dominated by concerns about the economic meltdown. As the campaign headed toward the home stretch, anxiety about the economy seemed to eclipse national security, health care, immigration, and other concerns. This shift of emphasis, they argue, doomed whatever chance McCain had of winning. Like the first edition, this update of Attack Politics systematically analyzes negative campaigning, pinning down much that has previously been speculated on but left unsubstantiated. It offers the best overview yet of modern presidential races and remains must reading for anyone interested in the vagaries of those campaigns. |
| 50 50 senate split history: A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961–2021 Alan S. Blinder, 2022-10-11 From the New York Times bestselling author, the fascinating story of U.S. economic policy from Kennedy to Biden—filled with lessons for today In this book, Alan Blinder, one of the world’s most influential economists and one of the field’s best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider’s story of macroeconomic policy that hasn’t been told before—one that is a pleasure to read, and as interesting as it is important. Focusing on the most significant developments and long-term changes, Blinder traces the highs and lows of monetary and fiscal policy, which have by turns cooperated and clashed through many recessions and several long booms over the past six decades. From the fiscal policy of Kennedy’s New Frontier to Biden’s responses to the pandemic, the book takes readers through the stagflation of the 1970s, the conquest of inflation under Jimmy Carter and Paul Volcker, the rise of Reaganomics, and the bubbles of the 2000s before bringing the story up through recent events—including the financial crisis, the Great Recession, and monetary policy during COVID-19. A lively and concise narrative that is sure to become a classic, A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961–2021 is filled with vital lessons for anyone who wants to better understand where the economy has been—and where it might be headed. |
| 50 50 senate split history: It's Even Worse Than It Looks Thomas E. Mann, Norman J. Ornstein, 2016-04-05 Acrimony and hyperpartisanship have seeped into every part of the political process. Congress is deadlocked and its approval ratings are at record lows. America's two main political parties have given up their traditions of compromise, endangering our very system of constitutional democracy. And one of these parties has taken on the role of insurgent outlier; the Republicans have become ideologically extreme, scornful of compromise, and ardently opposed to the established social and economic policy regime.In It's Even Worse Than It Looks, congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein identify two overriding problems that have led Congress -- and the United States -- to the brink of institutional collapse. The first is the serious mismatch between our political parties, which have become as vehemently adversarial as parliamentary parties, and a governing system that, unlike a parliamentary democracy, makes it extremely difficult for majorities to act. Second, while both parties participate in tribal warfare, both sides are not equally culpable. The political system faces what the authors call &asymmetric polarization, with the Republican Party implacably refusing to allow anything that might help the Democrats politically, no matter the cost.With dysfunction rooted in long-term political trends, a coarsened political culture and a new partisan media, the authors conclude that there is no &silver bullet; reform that can solve everything. But they offer a panoply of useful ideas and reforms, endorsing some solutions, like greater public participation and institutional restructuring of the House and Senate, while debunking others, like independent or third-party candidates. Above all, they call on the media as well as the public at large to focus on the true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the bums out every election cycle. Until voters learn to act strategically to reward problem solving and punish obstruction, American democracy will remain in serious danger. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Congress Explained Casey Burgat, Charles Hunt, 2022-11-15 Congress Explained: Representation and Lawmaking in the First Branch allows students to thoroughly engage with how Congress, government, and politics fulfill their core responsibilities to the American people. |
| 50 50 senate split history: The U.S. Senate Burdett Loomis, 2011-07-26 With an avalanche of scholarship on the House, it can be tough to balance out coverage in a typical Congress course with appropriate readings on the slow institution. Offering top-notch research geared to an undergraduate audience, Loomis' new edited volume represents a broad picture of the contemporary Senate and how it came to be. While addressing issues of delay, obstruction, and polarization in a variety of ways, the scholars in this collection are not proposing a reform agenda, but instead, explore the historical and political contexts for how difficult it can be to change a non-majoritarian, highly individualistic institution. Students will come away from these chapters with a much greater appreciation of the Senate's unique combination of tradition, precedent, and constitutional mandate. |
| 50 50 senate split history: A Century of Innovation 3M Company, 2002 A compilation of 3M voices, memories, facts and experiences from the company's first 100 years. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Encyclopedia of the United States Congress Robert E. Dewhirst, John David Rausch, 2014-05-14 Presents an A-to-Z reference guide to individuals, events, and terms of importance to the United States Congress. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Budgeting and Financial Management in the Federal Government Jerry L. McCaffery, Lawrence R. Jones, 2002-02-01 Budgeting and financial management in the U.S. federal government is highly complex and highly differentiated, e.g., in the process employed by the Executive branch versus those used by Congress. In this book we attempt to cover the processes of both the Executive and Congress and the relationships between the two. The book provides views from several perspectives, e.g., managerial and political. We attempt to provide readers with an understanding of how federal budget and financial management processes are supposed to operate. However, we then go a step further to show how these processes actually operate often in contrast to the intended template. Additionally, this book is intended to capture and combine the views of the academic and the practitioner, including those of the participants in the process.--Introduction. |
| 50 50 senate split history: American Political Leaders, Third Edition Richard Wilson, 2021-10-01 Praise for previous editions: ...accessible...this book is an excellent addition to collections serving general readers, high schools, and undergraduates.-American Reference Books Annual This readable volume is recommended for high-school, public, and undergraduate libraries...-Booklist ...[an] outstanding reference tool...Biographical dictionaries abound, in political science as in other fields...[but] Wilson's work is more accessible, benefitting from his straightforward approach and simpler organization...Highly recommended.-Choice Recommended.-Library Media Connection ...an authoritative and readable guide...serves as a helpful resource for high school, college, and public libraries...-Christian Library Journal American Political Leaders, Third Edition contains 286 biographical profiles of men and women in the United States who have demonstrated their political leadership primarily by being elected, nominated, or appointed to significant political offices in the United States or by having attained some special prominence associated with political leadership. This reference work provides students and general readers with a concise, readable guide to present and past leaders in U.S. politics. Included in this book are presidents, vice presidents, major party candidates for president, significant third-party candidates, important Supreme Court justices, Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives, senators, representatives, cabinet officers, significant agency heads, and diplomats. Since much of U.S. political leadership involves the representation of successive waves of new groups within the U.S. political system, special care has been taken to include the contributions of women, Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Americans who represented earlier waves of immigrants to the United States. Profiles include: John Adams: president, vice president, diplomat, Revolutionary leader, author Amy Coney Barrett: justice of the Supreme Court Pete Buttigieg: secretary of transportation; candidate for president Andrew Cuomo: governor of New York Jefferson Davis: secretary of war, senator, representative, president of the Confederate States of America Kamala Harris: senator; vice president John Lewis: civil rights activist; representative Gavin Newsom: governor of California Barack Obama: senator, president Sonia Sotomayor: associate justice of the Supreme Court Elizabeth Warren: senator; candidate for president |
| 50 50 senate split history: Political Handbook of the World 2012 Tom Lansford, Tom Muller, 2012-04-02 With more in-depth coverage of current political controversies than any other reference guide, 'Political Handbook of the World 2012' is the most authoritative source for finding complete facts and analysis on each country's governmental and political makeup. |
| 50 50 senate split history: The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century Harold Hongju Koh, 2024-06-25 A deeply researched, fully updated edition of The National Security Constitution that explores the growing imbalance of institutional powers in American foreign affairs and national security policy Since the beginning of the American Republic, a package of norms has evolved in the U.S. Constitution to protect the operation of checks and balances in national security policy. This “National Security Constitution” promotes shared powers and balanced institutional participation in foreign policymaking. Today it is under attack from a competing claim of executive unilateralism generated by recurrent patterns of presidential activism, congressional passivity, and judicial tolerance. This dynamic has pushed presidents of both parties to press the limits of law in foreign affairs. In his award-winning National Security Constitution (1990), Harold Hongju Koh traced the evolution of this constitutional struggle across America’s history. This new book, based on the earlier volume but with roughly 70 percent new material, brings the story to the present, placing recent events into constitutional perspective. Reviewing the presidencies of the twenty-first century, he explains why modern national security threats have given presidents of both parties incentives to monopolize foreign policy decision-making, Congress incentives to defer, and the courts reasons to rubber-stamp. Koh suggests both a workable strategy and crucial prescriptions to restore the balance of our constitutional order in addressing modern global crises. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Our American Government , 2003 The Committee on House Administration is pleased to present this revised book on our United States Government. This publication continues to be a popular introductory guide for American citizens and those of other countries who seek a greater understanding of our heritage of democracy. The question-and-answer format covers a broad range of topics dealing with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of our Government as well as the electoral process and the role of political parties.--Foreword. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Women in Congress Jennifer E. Manning, Ida A. Brudnick, 2018 |
| 50 50 senate split history: American Government and Politics Robert Singh, 2003-02-24 Written for all students of politics coming to the subject for the first time, this textbook provides a lively and accessible introduction and guide to all the main features and characteristics of one of the most distinctive and complex political systems in the world. |
| 50 50 senate split history: Political Handbook of the World 2020-2021 Tom Lansford, 2021-03-23 The Political Handbook of the World by Tom Lansford provides timely, thorough, and accurate political information, with more in-depth coverage of current political controversies than any other reference guide. The updated 2020-2021 edition will continue to be the most authoritative source for finding complete facts and analysis on each country′s governmental and political makeup. Compiling in one place more than 200 entries on countries and territories throughout the world, this volume is renowned for its extensive coverage of all major and minor political parties and groups in each political system. The Political Handbook of the World 2020-2021 also provides names of key ambassadors and international memberships of each country, plus detailed profiles of more than 30 intergovernmental organizations and UN agencies. And this update will aim to include coverage of current events, issues, crises, and controversies from the course of the last two years. |
5070 Ti 会成为 50 系显卡中性价比最高的吗，抛开 DLSS 能和 …
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5、50寸的液晶电视：50寸的液晶电视屏幕尺寸4:3的比例长度为101.96厘米，宽度为77.07厘米，16:9的比例长度为110厘米，宽度为63.42厘米，对角线为126.9厘米。
英伟达 RTX 5060 Ti 正式开售，国行售价 3199 元起，这代 60Ti 值 …
Apr 17, 2025 · 知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享知识、经验和见解，找到自己的解答」为品牌使命。知乎 …
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Jun 3, 2025 · 5年以来，我实测耳机已经有200款多了，包括tws降噪耳机80余款，半入耳式耳机30余款，头戴式耳机20余款，开放式(气传导)耳机50款左右，以及骨传导耳机20多款。 本文 …
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May 30, 2022 · 一般情况下，短标题的字符数不得超过50个。这一要求其实有很大的坑，稍不注意就会导致文章被期刊退回。 请注意，字符（Character）的概念不同于单词（Word），一个字 …
现在买4060的笔记本电脑还是得5060？ - 知乎
Jan 24, 2025 · 知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享知识、经验和见解，找到自己的解答」为品牌使命。知乎 …
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显卡价格日更第412天，可关注 @瑞克和显卡，方便后续获取每日显卡价格。 最近文章数据量惨不忍睹，瑞克求点个赞~ 1 今日比特币价格 还能上10w吗？
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很多想减肥的，或者已经减肥成功保持身材的同学，经常会提到“卡路里”这个热量单位，总以为这个就像米和厘米一样，单位统一，可以精确量化热量，为减肥之路进行量化指引。
5070 Ti 会成为 50 系显卡中性价比最高的吗，抛开 DLSS 能和 4080…
Feb 20, 2025 · 现在50系列根据谣传将会有“良心卡” rtx 5070 12g，价格重回到 3070 ti 的年代，游戏性能敢去碰瓷4090，虽然是开dlss 4的前提下，也算是新的一出”下克 …
2025年 6月 显卡天梯图（更新RTX 5060） - 知乎
May 30, 2025 · 5070：性能基本持平上一代4070s，但是有50系独占的多帧生成，算是平级替代，没有那么惊艳，但是喜欢n卡可以选择。 技嘉（GIGABYTE）9070显卡 AMD …
电视机尺寸一览表 - 知乎
5、50寸的液晶电视：50寸的液晶电视屏幕尺寸4:3的比例长度为101.96厘米，宽度为77.07厘米，16:9的比例长度为110厘米，宽度为63.42厘米，对角线为126.9厘米。
英伟达 RTX 5060 Ti 正式开售，国行售价 3199 元起，这代 60Ti 值 …
Apr 17, 2025 · 知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享知识、经验和见解，找到自己的解答」为品牌 …
【5年亲测200款！】2025年618有哪些值得买的蓝牙耳机推荐？学生 …
Jun 3, 2025 · 5年以来，我实测耳机已经有200款多了，包括tws降噪耳机80余款，半入耳式耳机30余款，头戴式耳机20余款，开放式(气传导)耳机50款左右，以及骨传导耳 …
