By Rodger Morrow, Editor & Publisher
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Energy in the Executive
Alexander Hamilton, who lived his 47 years at a clip that would wear out a lesser mortal—founding the Coast Guard before breakfast, sketching a financial system before lunch, and picking fights with Thomas Jefferson before dinner—told us in Federalist No. 70 that “energy in the executive” was essential for good government. What he meant was steady hands on the tiller, an administrator who would keep the books balanced and the laws enforced without nodding off at Rehoboth Beach.
Two hundred thirty-seven years later, “steady” has gone out the window. What we have now is executive energy in the form of a caffeine overdose—foreign policy announcements on Monday, federal troops on Tuesday, administrative reorganization on Wednesday, and a pediatric cancer initiative by Thursday. Even the beavers down on the Beaver River don’t work that fast. You could almost set your watch by the sound of another Diet Coke can cracking open in the West Wing.
Politics by the Polls
This restless governing style has filtered into polling numbers. According to Reuters-Ipsos, voters think Republicans are better at the no-nonsense stuff—crime, immigration, foreign conflicts, and the economy—while Democrats hold the upper hand on the noble-sounding categories of health care, women’s rights, and the environment. In other words, the GOP promises to keep the wolves away from the door while the Democrats pledge to improve the drapes.
Luxury Beliefs and Local Realities
The Democrats’ problem, according to the venerable analyst Michael Barone, is that they’ve become addicted to “luxury beliefs”—positions that play well at faculty cocktail parties but make less sense to the folks in Aliquippa trying to keep a roof over their heads. Supporting sanctuary states and re-litigating who gets to play girls’ volleyball may win points in the faculty lounge at Harvard, but they don’t move a lot of votes at Steamfitters Local 449.
The Courts and the Constitution
Meanwhile, the courts lurk in the background like a strict but weary parent. Presidents can slap tariffs on steel like a blackjack dealer tossing cards, but if they stretch the International Emergency Economic Powers Act too far, the Supreme Court may swat them down—just as it did with FDR’s National Recovery Act back in 1935. Sometimes the robe brigade even does presidents a favor, rescuing them from their own bad ideas. Which is fine, except Washington always finds another way to spend the money—usually on some pork-barrel project that builds a federal turtle underpass in New Mexico instead of a new bridge over the Beaver River.
Hamilton’s Question Revisited
And so we come back to Hamilton’s question: is energy in the executive a blessing or a curse? The voters, like customers at a diner, seem to prefer the politician who keeps refilling the coffee cup—or better still, the bottomless Diet Coke—even if he spills a little on the counter, over the one who disappears in the kitchen to perfect the pie crust.
The Show Must Go On
The great American experiment, then, may not be about steady governance at all. It may be about keeping the show lively, the plates spinning, and the news cycle humming. After all, what good is a republic that doesn’t keep us entertained?
The Beaver County Perspective
At least here in Beaver County, we know the truth: we’ll forgive an energetic president almost anything—shutting down the government, raising tariffs, even sombrero memes—so long as he remembers to bring home a federal grant to fix the bridges. Because around here, potholes outlast presidencies. And if Washington insists on pork-barrel politics, all we ask is they ship a little bacon up the Turnpike instead of frying it all in D.C.
