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Even politics-as-usual requires analysis and explanation. �þ���Ƶ community members heard the historical perspective on the 2010 elections and current U.S. political climate from FOX News contributor and Washington Examiner columnist Michael Barone during a lecture and debate Wednesday night.

The event was sponsored by the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization; the Institute for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics; the College Republicans; and the College Democrats.

Barone, author of several books and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, cast America’s recent political past in martial terms. 

Since 1960, the country has alternated between periods of “trench warfare” and “open field” politics, the former characterized by stable electorates and predictable outcomes, the latter by volatile issues and unpredictable voter behavior.

After shifts in the early 80s and 90s, and again in 2005, he said the country has entered a period of open field conflict over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment, the economy, and Big Government.

Questions about government’s function and proportion stretch back to the beginning of the republic, but in the 20th century, “progressives and New Dealers wanted to encourage a culture of dependence,” he said.

“Progressive rhetoric” no longer holds its own against the bedrock principles of the nation’s founders, promoted by the Tea Party and other conservatives. Proof will come in a wave of Republican victories next week at all levels of government — federal, state, and local.

Undergraduates on both ends of the political spectrum had a chance to engage with Barone. Max Weiss ’11 and Andrew Philipson ’14 represented the College Democrats, while Alexandra Nieto ’12 and Kate Hicks ’11 served as the voice of the College Republicans.

Weiss, Philipson, and Barone sparred briefly over “Obamacare” and the Troubled Asset Relief Program. They debated whether Republican enthusiasm was underreported or simply non-existent during and shortly after the 2008 presidential elections. And, they exchanged words over the question of biased reporting at FOX News, with Barone asserting that, based on his decades in the business, he felt the network was indeed fair and balanced.

Questions from the College Republicans had Barone looking forward: would a new Republican majority be able to roll back the welfare state? In Barone’s estimation, the public will back reductions in government if that government is perceived to be cumbersome, but Congress will have to find ways around a presidential veto if it wants to take action.

When will we as a nation retreat from the open field and return to a period of trench warfare? “I will tell you the answer to that question about two or three years after it happens.”