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Perhaps it's because the outcome of the congressional race in my district was entirely predictable, but I find myself without any strong emotional reaction to the results of Tuesday's elections. There may be additional factors at work, as well.
I've been listening to the "My History Can Beat Up Your Politics" podcast (http://www.myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.com) for several months now, and Bruce Carlson, the podcaster, provides an excellent and thoughtful analysis of the history of American politics. One of the things he's been emphasizing for weeks is that it is entirely normal for the President's party to lose seats in Congress in the mid-term elections. In fact, it is so common that the opposite result can be considered an anomaly. So, in a sense, what happened on Tuesday is an entirely normal and predictable result of American politics. While the rhetoric of this years campaigns certainly ranks among some of the nastiest, the outcome seems to be entirely within the predictable range, based on historical results. So, the changes on Capitol Hill did not really surprise me.
Furthermore, I'm not entirely convinced that the change will be a bad thing. While the Republicans (in particular the supporters of the "Tea Party" movement) will crow about their victory, the reality is that they will not have sufficient numbers to over-ride a presidential veto. The Republican majority in the House will NOT be able to fully dictate the legislative agenda. They will need to convince the President to sign their bills, and will need to accommodate the Democrats in the Senate. Furthermore, now that they control the House, they will need to demonstrate that they can actually accomplish something. Hopefully, this will lead to a more bi-partisan dialog and a reduction in the divisive rhetoric of the last few years. Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, but while there may be an initial showdown between the two parties, I believe that once we get beyond that, we may find a more pragmatic atmosphere settling over Capitol Hill.
So, while I'm sympathetic to the hand-wringing of many of my friends, I'm not sure that the election results are the sign of impending disaster that some people seem to think they are. Time will tell, but I sincerely hope that this will be a turning point towards a return towards a somewhat less dysfunctional political debate.
I've been listening to the "My History Can Beat Up Your Politics" podcast (http://www.myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.com) for several months now, and Bruce Carlson, the podcaster, provides an excellent and thoughtful analysis of the history of American politics. One of the things he's been emphasizing for weeks is that it is entirely normal for the President's party to lose seats in Congress in the mid-term elections. In fact, it is so common that the opposite result can be considered an anomaly. So, in a sense, what happened on Tuesday is an entirely normal and predictable result of American politics. While the rhetoric of this years campaigns certainly ranks among some of the nastiest, the outcome seems to be entirely within the predictable range, based on historical results. So, the changes on Capitol Hill did not really surprise me.
Furthermore, I'm not entirely convinced that the change will be a bad thing. While the Republicans (in particular the supporters of the "Tea Party" movement) will crow about their victory, the reality is that they will not have sufficient numbers to over-ride a presidential veto. The Republican majority in the House will NOT be able to fully dictate the legislative agenda. They will need to convince the President to sign their bills, and will need to accommodate the Democrats in the Senate. Furthermore, now that they control the House, they will need to demonstrate that they can actually accomplish something. Hopefully, this will lead to a more bi-partisan dialog and a reduction in the divisive rhetoric of the last few years. Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, but while there may be an initial showdown between the two parties, I believe that once we get beyond that, we may find a more pragmatic atmosphere settling over Capitol Hill.
So, while I'm sympathetic to the hand-wringing of many of my friends, I'm not sure that the election results are the sign of impending disaster that some people seem to think they are. Time will tell, but I sincerely hope that this will be a turning point towards a return towards a somewhat less dysfunctional political debate.
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