As it is essential to liberty that the government in general should have a common interest with the people, so it is particularly essential that the branch of it under consideration [the legislature] should have an immediate dependence on, and an intimate sympathy with, the people. Frequent elections are unquestionably the only policy by which this dependence and sympathy can be effectually secured.
-- The Federalist #52
Well, Mr. Madison: you have our sympathy. And so do at least 13 of the top 20 House centrists, all late of the 111th Congress. This includes top-rated Frank Kratovil (MD-1) and John Adler (NJ-3), with races in AZ-8 and NY-25 still too close to call.
Things went better in George Washington’s “cooling saucer,” the Senate, and the Governors’ races. The Loony Tunes candidates fell in Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada and New York, despite the general lack of appealing alternatives, and Buck looks headed the same way in Colorado. Chafee -- a pure victim of the national mood in his loss in 2006 -- and Murkowski rode borrowed vehicles to victories from partisan exile, even as Florida melted under the heat that three-way contests can generate.
And victories for Nikki Haley and Susana Martinez made history for inclusive politicking in red and blue states equally.
And victories for Nikki Haley and Susana Martinez made history for inclusive politicking in red and blue states equally.
It helps that several hits are cushioned by candidate quality and experience. Turnovers to returning veterans Kasich, Coats and even Toomey recall (relatively speaking) a more familiar and mainstream form of conservatism than the Joe Millers of the world. Though I am not a member of the Barbara Boxer or Jerry Brown fan clubs, money certainly did not win the day in either big race in California.
Some hope for new ideas remains, too. Sen. Wyden, a proponent of an alternative healthcare strategy in bipartisan partnership with Utah’s Sen. Bennett, won handily in Oregon, improving prospects for Congress to improve on Obamacare rather than simply repeal it, as Sen. Bayh argues in today’s Times. Even Rand Paul, though (shall we say) out there on a number of questions, was among the few Tea Partiers who spelled out his approach to budget cuts. It is a place to start.
Bear in mind, gentle reader, that many of this year’s fallen were newcomers who rode Obama’s train into town. While we mourn the Blue Dogs and some other good centrists today, many more lost who squandered their two years on votes to enlarge government at any opportunity, and sometimes without debate. They got their comeuppance. And that Senatorial cooling saucer survives. It can contain a bit more hot water yet.
As Madison wrote near the conclusion of Federalist 52: “It is a received and well founded maxim, that, where no other circumstances affect the case, the greater the power is, the shorter ought to be its duration.” It may smart today. But it’s a lesson the more extreme freshman will also be asked to ponder as they take their oath. Boehner is mindful of how the government shutdown threw the Gingrich revolution into reverse. If he sticks by his compromise offer on the Bush tax cuts, it could be the beginning of something more constructive than anyone on Fox or MSNBC currently anticipates.
5 comments:
Nice summary, but the "many more lost who squandered their two years on votes to enlarge government at any opportunity" line was beneath you.
Intro: Nice use of the Federalist Papers. Don't let the extremes own any of our seminal national documents.
P1) Truly mourning Kratovil. He deserved his top billing.
P2) Can you believe I actually had sympathy for Murkowski and am relieved she won.
P3) Haley and Martinez! Happy for them and hope they provide an example for women of all political bent.
P4) I am worried that Toomey is Santorum 2.0, but that won't fly in the Keystone state for more than 1 term, so maybe he'll know that, too.
P5) I get your point, but Rand Paul, really? Misesian economics has no place in a compassionate government. I suppose if I were forced to find a tea-party candidate to be happy about, it would be Paul, as I can handle Objectivism in the discussion when it is delivered from an intellectually honest platform. I hope he takes after his father in his honesty, but the jury is still out.
P6) Just as I respect Rep Paul's honest position on taxation and government spending, I respect the progressive position that goverment has been over-restricted (or at least inefficiently focused on those who need it) since the election of Reagan and that there was much work to do to correct that situation. Their votes were for the most part intellectually honest and your characterization was not.
P7) Hey Mr. Speaker, does that tiger's tail feel nice? You might want to use two hands to hold it.
This is the President and Tim Kaine's opportunity to take control of the narrative. Boehner KNOWS he doesn't have a complete mandate, but people like Pence obviously aren't aware. At best for the GOP, they will lose their monolithic nature; at worst, the political infighting will shift the control of the national narrative to the Democrats.
Semper Fi,
Terry
All points understood, both -- and most points agreed.
Also, I am chastened by your notes about the good faith in which even unappealing legislation has been offered -- particularly after hearing the President describe his conversation with "public servants who will no longer have the chance to serve." But recall the arm-twisting and fast-and-loose procedures that led to the passage of healthcare reform: it was the worst since the *last* healthcare reform, Medicare D, from the (R) side of the aisle.
Sometimes watching the sausagemaking makes me barf up some bad words. I think that much is understandable. But rising above that is sort of the whole point here, isn't it? I should have chosen less inflammatory language, as in most cases Bayh's characterization (in this morning's NYT) of Democratic "overreach" was all that needed to be said.
You're right on that, guys -- thank you. /-J.
No mea culpa needed; it's easy to forget that these people put their pants on the same way we do. It is much harder to remember that they individually think they are doing the best they can for their constituents.
As to healthcare reform, if you look to the other side for bipartisanship twice, and they bite the hand you extend both times, you have to take the great sage's moral lesson:
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... won't get fooled again."
As a New Mexico resident, I was on hand to observe the election of Susana Martinez as our Governor. It may represent a victory of "inclusive politics," as she is the state's first female Governor and of Hispanic descent, but I am more concerned about the quality of a candidate's thought.
Martinez, like every Republican who ran in New Mexico this cycle, is an obstinate global warming denier. Not a skeptic, not someone with intelligent questions about the scientific data and what reasonable conclusions can be drawn by policymakers on the issue. Just a denier.
So yay for us, I suppose.
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