There is a trend in politics today that disturbs me greatly. In case anyone has not been paying attention, the Republicans have just lost 3 special elections in a row of seats that they've held for decades in areas of the country, like Mississippi and Louisiana that have no reason being competitive. The one special election was for the former seat of Dennis Hastert, the last Speaker of the House. Times are not good for the Republicans. A solid of majority of people think the Republicans, particularly the current Bush administration, has taken the country in the wrong direction. I think generally, the Republicans are reaping what they have sowed. If they are in a crisis of public confidence, they have earned it.
But... What does this result mean? Well, in this country, it means the other party reaps the benefit. Not from being better or having different ideas, but by not being the party who is out of fashion. This has been a story that has repeated itself through our history. Some parties have fallen so out of fashion that they have dissolved and reformed as something else, as in the middle of the 19th Century when the Whig party was remade into the Republican party by Abraham Lincoln. It started with the founding of the country. While both Washington and Adams tried to be above party, the Federalists fell out of favor with the electorate and Jefferson came to power. The unfortunate consequence of our electoral system is that it only allows for two big parties to dominate. This is something I believe we desperately need to change.
So now the Democrats are in a position to reap the benefits of the Republicans implosion. Even though all indications point to a very tight presidential race, Democrats are setup for bigger wins in the House and the Senate than they saw in 2006. The Republicans are desperately trying to figure out what is wrong with the Republican brand. Some are arguing that the party is not conservative enough while others feel they need to throw their president overboard in order to restore their trust with the public. David Brooks had an excellent article on the same process that the Tories have gone through recently, after being out of power for the last couple of decades. The Republicans could learn a lot from the changes they have implemented, but they probably won't.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/opinion/09brooks.html
In the meantime, the Democrats may rack up enough seats to have veto proof power in Congress, with an even or better chance of capturing the White House as well. I hate to play the role of Captain Obvious, but this is not a good thing. One party rule is bad for the country. One party rule is bad for any country. I can list about a dozen examples off the top of my head, from Robert Mugabe's ruination of Zimbabwe to Lenin to Mao, the results are usually disastrous. Now, of course, one could argue that we are a democracy, after all, not a dictatorship, but when you look at the results of the Republicans having one party rule in the earlier part of this decade, the dividends are abismal. The old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely is the only thing certain in this world except death and taxes. No matter how benevolent a party goes into power, unchecked it will over reach and eventually become corrupt. The best you can hope for is a longer period of benevolence than you expect.
My ultimate solution to this problem is two-fold. First, amend the Constitution and eliminate the electoral college. This, in my humble opinion, is the main barricade to giving people more than two options. In my heart, I will never believe that two parties can truly represent the needs and hopes of all the citizens of this nation. Second, eliminate the gerrymandering that both parties shamelessly pilfer every decade after the census comes out. If districts could be drawn by a non-political independent local body, it might give people more of a chance to defeat incumbents in national elections. Right now, both parties are carving out their own territories in order to give their incumbents the best chance to be re-elected. Of course it doesn't always work, as has been seen with the last three special elections, but it would help. These solutions are obviously not easy to implement, but if the citizenry rises up and demands change, it is possible.
In the meantime, we need to keep the pressure on people of both parties that stand up for good government and fiscal sanity. Those people are an endangered species no matter what party label.
