David Shapiro: 2 major political parties lack the right stuff to lead

Debates about Hawaii’s public policy failures often end with fingers of blame pointed at our one-party rule by Democrats, who have long held the governorship and super-majorities in both houses of the Legislature.

Single-party dominance is never good; it discourages compromise and leaves a broad swath of the electorate feeling ignored and frustrated.

But it’s become the norm in our country. Forty states now have one-party control of the governor’s office and legislature — 23 Republican and 17 Democrat — with only 10 states splitting power between parties.

This is unlikely to change anytime soon, and certainly not in Hawaii, as political polarization hardens.

Which leads to a related concern of equal importance: Neither party is behaving as the best version of itself, and until they shape up we have little chance of solving our vexing challenges no matter which is in power.

In Hawaii, the basic party operations of both the Democrats and Republicans are awash in dysfunction.

The Hawaii Republican Party has been unable to assemble an effective leadership team for years because of personal feuds between moderates and conservatives that have caused endless turnover.

Hawaii Democrats are embroiled in a nasty fight to force the resignation of state chairman Dennis Jung.

The party that supposedly controls everything has squandered its resources to the point it may not be able to afford the presidential preference poll necessary for local Democrats to fully participate in choosing the party’s 2024 national ticket.

Local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle feel little obligation to follow their party’s platform or other dictates, displaying more allegiance to the outside special interests that fill their campaign coffers.

If you listen to the speeches at the opening of the Hawaii Legislature in which the Democratic governor, the Democratic House speaker and the Democratic Senate president lay out their priorities, it often sounds like they’re from different planets.

Hawaii Democrats have a “wait your turn” culture that discourages more capable members from challenging lackluster incumbents propped up by the special interests they cater to.

The dearth of opposition enables incumbents to further protect themselves by blocking popular reforms to encourage fresh blood, such as term limits and publicly financed elections.

Republicans complain about one-party rule, but offer credible candidates for few offices — and when they manage to get elected they often make fools of themselves.

Hawaii’s Republican state senators, Kurt Fevella and Brenton Awa, couldn’t agree on how to organize their two-member minority caucus.

They often embarrass themselves and their party with unhinged rants. Fevella insulted the Hawaiian heritage of former housing director Nani Medeiros and called her the “devil.” Awa said a Hawaiian leader once would have been hung for criticizing him and suggested Gov. Josh Green should be disqualified by his Pennsylvania birth.

So the problem is bigger than one party having a monopoly on power. It’s that neither party has produced a leadership or agenda capable of handling the difficult problems threatening our state.

There can be a little hope of either party competently running the state until they show they can run their own party affairs with coherence instead of clownishness.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.