Considering what party to choose when starting to vote

When my son was 17, he was planning to register to vote as an independent. I told him how my first voter registration card had arrived while I was at college, and my dad had opened it by accident. My dad — a longtime Republican committeeman — let me know that there had been some sort of mistake: I had been registered as an independent. This was a beautifully Bill Wood moment.

I told him I wanted to educate myself before picking a party. He told me that independents in Pennsylvania do not get to vote in primaries, so I should probably pick a party so I could have more of a voice. I shared this story with my son because I want him to have the largest opportunity to shape the course of our local, state and federal governments with his vote. When he said he wasn’t sure which party better represented his views, I offered him the following observation.

Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden all had two years to work with a friendly Congress. This being the case, a very good test of each party’s priorities — not campaign promises, but the policies they will pursue when in power — would be to look at what the parties accomplished when they had unified control over the legislative and executive branches. And here’s what happened: The Democrats used Obama’s first two years to pass the Affordable Care Act. While opponents said there would be death panels and long lines and this would blow up the deficit, voters did not buy it, and the ACA had a thin margin of support: 46% favored it, 40% did not. Today 59% are in favor and 39% opposed.

During Trump’s first two years, congressional Republicans — who repeatedly voted to repeal the ACA while Obama was president — couldn’t find the political will to pass a repeal with a GOP president who would sign it. The ACA had become too popular in red states to risk repealing it.

Republicans did pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This brainless child of then House Speaker Paul Ryan had a 29% approval rating before it was passed. It blew up the deficit and largely favored the richest Americans at the future expense of everyone else.

Democrats spent Biden’s first two years passing the American Rescue Plan pandemic stimulus. Then they passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a long overdue expansion of background checks for gun purchasers. Next up were the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Together, the latter three bills are the largest investment we have made in our country’s future since Dwight Eisenhower was president. As important as what these bills accomplished: All had approval ratings of between 55% and 73%.

So, on the one hand you have a party that passed laws that increased access to health care, increased the requirement for background checks for gun purchasers, and invested in our nation’s future, all of which enjoyed the support of the majority of our electorate (that’s how democracy is supposed to work).

On the other hand, you have a party that passed a tax cut that largely favored the rich and tried — but ultimately lacked the courage — to end the ACA. In addition, the Republicans seated three Supreme Court justices, all of whom indicated at their hearings that Roe v. Wade was “settled law.” That lasted until the first opportunity they had to relitigate the settled law and take away what had been an American right for nearly 50 years. None of these had the support of the electorate.

One party passes popular bills to improve our future, the other pushes an anti-majoritarian agenda that sets us back. It’s a pretty clear choice to me, but I haven’t peeked at my son’s registration to see if he shares my views.