Alan Simpson Delivers Lecture on Politics and Partisanship at JFK Forum

American politics today suffers from too much emphasis on partisanship, but eliminating the party system would probably not be effective, said Alan K. Simpson in a lecture at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics Tuesday night.

“In this country today, there is much hatred. And it is a very corrosive force,” said Simpson, who is co-chairman of the United States National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and a former director of the IOP. He added that he sees a lack of trust in Congress, where simple actions, like shaking hands, are largely lost.

Still, Simpson expressed doubt that eliminating parties altogether was a good solution. “You’d find there a loss of freedom of speech; a loss of freedom of self,” he said of countries without partisanship.

Simpson did not hesitate to share his own viewpoints—some more reflective of his political affiliation than others.

“It doesn’t matter by what name you call it,” Simpson said of the Affordable Care Act, for example. “It won’t work.” Specifically, he expressed skepticism of the health care plan’s affordability given pre-existing health issues including smoking, drinking, diabetes, and the aging U.S. population.

Simpson also had harsh words for Tea Party politicians. “The [Tea Party] doesn’t deserve the title of party,” he said, calling instead for a return to what he deemed the traditional philosophies of the Republican party—limited government and personal privacy.

Simpson’s perspective on abortion was more measured. While he stated that he found abortion morally problematic, he added that it was a “deeply intimate decision” and that “legislators should not vote on it.”

Simpson’s talk, the 2013 Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics, was sponsored by The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. The event began with the presentation of the David Nyhan Prize for Political Journalism to Leonard Pitts, Jr. a columnist for the Miami Herald and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Auden S. Laurence ’16, a member of the JFK Forum Committee, said she looks forward to these yearly lectures. “I can’t say that I agree with everything that [Simpson] said from a political standpoint, but one thing I can certainly say is that I respect his emphasis on compromise,” she said.

Carrie Devine, director of the JFK Forum, called Simpson’s talk “refreshing” and praised him for being “inclusive.”

“He might be controversial to some, but he helps set an example of how to reach across the aisle and I think that’s right up the alley of the forum,” said Devine.