Back in the decades when the Democrats were the majority party, the rules were simple: the Dems ruled and the GOP sat on the back benches and generally behaved itself. Oh, they moaned and groaned about activist judges and profligate spending and such, but the Republicans knew they were the losers and they would have to rebuild their party if that were ever going to change.
Well, it did change, and it changed big time. And now, suddenly, the rules are different. In attempting to govern the way majority parties have always governed, Republicans are painted as power-mad fiends eager to turn back the clock on all the social progress this nation has enjoyed under the “enlightened” rule of the Democrats. It’s more power they want, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it! Despite having lost the Presidency, both houses of Congress, the majority of Governorships and an increasing number of state legislatures, Democrats seem to have convinced themselves they are the victims of some massive evil scheme.
They act as if they are still the majority party whose rights are being trampled by a herd of rogue elephants. They’re like a professional boxer who is KO’d by his opponent only to argue he should win on points. So they obstruct, they accuse, they flail about wildly hoping something—anything—will get those ignorant voters to see the error of their ways and return the world to the way it was meant to be.
Every loss is the fault of outside forces instead of the candidates and their messages. Elections are stolen, they are bought by special interests, or they are manipulated by sneaky, conniving Republicans who have become experts at pulling the wool over voters’ eyes. The Democratic Party is apparently suffering from a mirror shortage. There’s no other way to explain their cluelessness as to whom to blame for the electoral realignment in America.
And so they go on and on about a majority party which has the temerity to govern according to the precepts which made it a majority party in the first place. They rant about the lack of bipartisanship as if they had cornered the market on olive branches, while spouting some of the most partisan bile heard in Washington in decades. And, as they become more wild-eyed and maniacal, they turn off more and more voters who can only figure out what they’re against (anything President Bush is for) while wondering what they’re in favor of (other than returning them to power). The Democrats are simply not a viable alternative for most “centrists”.
It’s a vicious circle that promises to keep the GOP in a majority position for a long time to come. I suppose that’s good news for Republicans. But it’s still painful to watch.
