It seems pretty clear that neither "major" party has yet figured out that an electoral victory is not a "mandate" to shove their entire agenda down our throats, and that an evenly divided nation should be governed as one if you want to remain in power.
Writer Jay Cost is a solid conservative and has words of warning for the GOP:
What Goes Up...
But if the Republican party were a publicly traded company, January 20 would be the day to sell, sell, sell. This may sound counter-intuitive, but the verdict of history is clear, if not quite unanimous: The moment a party achieves total control of the government is the moment just before power begins to slip through its fingers.
Usually, the downturn begins quickly. First the marginal members of the congressional coalition begin to waver in their loyalty, then the midterm revivifies a seemingly moribund opposition. While the incumbent party usually wins its first reelection bid for the White House (Jimmy Carter being the only exception in the last 125 years), the other side retains a substantial footprint in the government. Their numbers are usually strengthened in the second midterm—at which point they often gain control over Congress.
So Republicans would do well to make hay while the sun shines, for sooner or later it is going to set. Ironically, nobody furnishes a better example of how to make use of a fleeting majority than Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. Blessed with a supermajority during 2009-2010, they implemented many sweeping policy changes with impressive alacrity—as if they knew that the moment would soon pass. Indeed, it did. This one will, too. Republicans should make the most of it while it lasts.
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Writer Jay Cost is a solid conservative and has words of warning for the GOP:
What Goes Up...
But if the Republican party were a publicly traded company, January 20 would be the day to sell, sell, sell. This may sound counter-intuitive, but the verdict of history is clear, if not quite unanimous: The moment a party achieves total control of the government is the moment just before power begins to slip through its fingers.
Usually, the downturn begins quickly. First the marginal members of the congressional coalition begin to waver in their loyalty, then the midterm revivifies a seemingly moribund opposition. While the incumbent party usually wins its first reelection bid for the White House (Jimmy Carter being the only exception in the last 125 years), the other side retains a substantial footprint in the government. Their numbers are usually strengthened in the second midterm—at which point they often gain control over Congress.
So Republicans would do well to make hay while the sun shines, for sooner or later it is going to set. Ironically, nobody furnishes a better example of how to make use of a fleeting majority than Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. Blessed with a supermajority during 2009-2010, they implemented many sweeping policy changes with impressive alacrity—as if they knew that the moment would soon pass. Indeed, it did. This one will, too. Republicans should make the most of it while it lasts.
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