Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Your Majority Party is Doomed

Congratulations! Your political party has won control of the vital levers of American government. Presumably, your party was elected on a platform to solve several pressing challenges facing the country. Now it is time to govern.

You have two choices:

1. Govern badly, and voters will throw you and your party out, mercilessly.
2. Govern well, and you will solve the pressing problems that brought you to power. Over time, however, your agenda and message will become stale as voters develop new issues and concerns, and they will vote you out. This will happen more quickly than you expect.

Congratulations! Your opposition is crazy and/or inept. One of two things will happen:

1. They will grow irrelevant, making your party enormous. However, your party will fracture and split under the pressure of so many competing interests and views. Eventually, a new party will emerge, combining the ashes of your old opposition and the malcontents in your big party.
2. They will wise up, adjust their policiesnominate better candidates, and challenge your rule.

In American government, the majority party is doomed. It always was, and always will be.