In a panel by the University of Idaho Politics and Philosophy department put on Thursday, five professors discussed the 2018 elections and the consequential “Housequake”.
The panel centered on how the Democratic control of the house has changed the way the United States government operates and what effects it may have on the future of democracy.
The professors who spoke at the panel included: Charles Dainoff, assistant professor of political science; Aman McLeod, assistant professor; lecturer Markie McBrayer and faculty members Lisa Carlson, Michael Ryan Overton and Florian Justwan.
In the panel, each of the professors gave a presentation on some aspect of the 2018 elections, hoping to break it down for students.
Presentations ranged from the “blue wave” in the house by McBrayer, to the Russian Investigation from McLeod.
McLeod touched on an issue that sebremed to be a consensus among all of the panelists. Without the shift of control in the House in the 2018 elections, we would not be seeing as many investigations as we are now, he said.
“Flipping control of the house was huge in this regard because none of these investigations would be going on in the House of Representatives if it hadn’t changed hands in nearly as rigorous of a way because presidents don’t typically get as rigorously as investigated from their own party,” Mcleod said.
Other presentations, like that from faculty member Lisa Carlson, focused on game theory and the government shutdown, something Carlson said she hoped would add a different perspective to coverage of the shutdown by explaining “a real simple game theoretic explanation of the shutdown.”
Carlson then went on to explain the recent government shutdown, using game theory, and the tactics that President Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi used to arrive at the final outcome of the shutdown.
In faculty member Florian Justwan’s presentation, he discussed the foreign policy implications of the 2018 elections.
“Since the Senate is held by Republicans, most of the foreign policy is probably going to remain fairly stable to what it used to be,” Justwan said.
Justwan said this was one way in which the Democratic control of the house didn’t have as much of an impact, rather it would impact it in smaller ways.
“The House Democrats are definitely going to make use of their ability to run investigations in the house and will do so in a way that is going to shed light on foreign policies that are potentially questionable or controversial,” Justwan said.
The final presentation of the night, before the floor was opened for questions, was by Charles Dainoff, assistant professor of political science.
He discussed the implications of “Housequake” on the world. Dainoff explained the new Congress has a role in slowing the retreat from democracy.
Dainoff said that throughout the world there has been a shift towards “far-right nationalist” and in the United States, the shift can be attributed to President Trump.
“The quality of the United States democracy has decreased in recent years because of polarization between political parties has widened,” Dainoff said, “And as a result, members of Congress are less likely to cooperate with each other to get things done and as a result, you have decreased trust by the public in government and governmental institutions.”
Dainoff said that it is this decreased trust that has increased the shift towards “far-right nationalists,” but that there is a remedy to this situation — free elections.
“The best way to counter this strategy is for their opponents to exercise their right to vote while they still have it … to eliminate anti-democratic threats,” Dainoff said.
Dainoff said the “blue wave movement” in the 2018 elections was a step in the right direction and will block administration efforts to “dismantle and impede” other efforts.
He closed his presentation by offering hope.
“The U.S. has not completely abandoned the project that it helped begin,” Dainoff said. “A peaceful restoration is still possible.”
Cody Allred can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CodyLAllred