Alan S. Gerber

Where Measures Meet History: Party Polarization during the New Deal and Fair Deal

Academic Positions: Abby and Jon Winkelried Chair, Vanderbilt University 2015 Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Vanderbilt University 2014 Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Vanderbilt University 2009 2014 Co-Director, Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Vanderbilt University 2009 Co-Director, Vanderbilt Poll, Vanderbilt University 2011 Associate Professor (with tenure), Dept. of Politics, Princeton University 2008 2009 William G. Bowen Presidential University Preceptorship, 2007 2009. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Politics, Princeton University Jan 2003 2008. Instructor, Dept. of Politics, Princeton University 2002 Jan 2003.

Polarized We Govern

In October 2013, Congress and the president hit an impasse over funding the government and increasing the nation’s borrowing limit. Lawmakers’ inability to reach common ground shut down the government and brought the country perilously close to defaulting on its debt. Such legislative drama–coupled with Congress’s paltry legislative records since 2011–has fueled debate over whether the U.S. national political system is irreparably dysfunctional. Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein (2012, XIV) offer the most pungent critique, arguing that transformation of the Republican Party into an “insurgent outlier” has paralyzed our governing institutions. In contrast, David Mayhew (2011) urges caution, arguing that anti-majoritarian biases in American politics are rarely permanent. In short, Mayhew says that our political system is self-correcting; Mann and Ornstein suggest instead that the Republican Party has forced our legislative machinery off the rails.