Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, March 8, 2021, 1:10 p.m.

A lot has changed since I got a degree in political science (and history) almost 41 years ago.

At that time, I learned that the American political system was almost unique in the world in the nature of its parties. Worldwide, the overriding characteristic of most free governments was tight ideological discipline in the political parties.

Not here. The U.S. had liberal Republicans, conservative Democrats, and the fate of legislation often hung in the balance until the extensive middle ground tilted one way or the other.

The Senate had Republicans such as Mark Hatfield, Charles Percy and Lowell Weicker, and Democrats such as Ernest Hollings, Sam Nunn and Lloyd Bentsen.

There was a young senator from Delaware named Joe Biden.

In Great Britain, in only rare instances did a Conservative vote the same way as Labour. Parliamentary government jockeyed back and forth between coalitions forged by one of the two larger parties with small ones such as the Liberals Democrats, the Scottish National Party and the Democratic Unionists.

When I was an intern in Washington, I learned to my surprise that Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) and Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) were frequent lunch companions. Humphrey, who became a senator again after serving as vice president, died during the time I was there.

The Senate was considerably more civil and collegial than it is today.

Partisan politics has grown more and more so. As the weekend’s vote on the American Rescue Plan proved, Republicans are no more likely to vote with Democrats than Michigan fans are wont to root for Ohio State. It passed 50-49. Fifty Democrats voted yea. Forty-nine Republicans voted nay.

The world’s most deliberative legislative body has changed into a gridlock of tectonic plates lodged against each other.

I am the author of eight novels and a number of other non-fiction books, all of which can be found at Amazon.com.

My songwriting hobby can be examined on my YouTube page.

My writing can be found at my sports website, LaurensCountySports.com. I’m on Twitter (@hmdutton) and Facebook (Monte.Dutton).