We have heard incessant complaining, crying and gnashing of teeth about the evil Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues in Congress for two long years. Yesterday was the chance to do something about it. All 435 members of Congress were up for re-election. 35 members of the Senate also faced the voters.
Our governmental system is designed to allow voters to send a loud message every two years with that power. Voting for all House members assures that voters . However, it is also constructed to protect us from the short-term whims of a bare majority so that we don't veer wildly off course or trample minority rights in the process. The six year terms of the Senate assures that.
We saw exactly that last night.
The Democrats look to have picked up somewhere around 30 seats. It was about average for a mid-term election. However, the Republicans look like they picked up 3 Senate seats. That is unusual considering the Democrat victories in the House.
Both results were right in the range that I was expecting. The Republicans were facing an uphill battle to retain their majority due to historical trends in the midterms and 40 Republican incumbents who did not run in 2018 due to retirements. Those were big obstacles to overcome.
Democrats had a similar problem in the Senate. They were defending 26 seats. The GOP was only defending 9. That was not an easy task.
The people had their say. Was it a rebuke and repudiation of the direction Donald Trump and the Republicans are taking with America?
Hardly.
Was it a message that there are some issues that Americans are concerned with about some aspects of the direction?
Absolutely.
To use an analogy about what happened yesterday think about it as if I am driving down the road and Mrs. BeeLine softly say to me, "Are you sure we are on the right road, honey?". Compare that to what happened in 2010, after Barack Obama's first two years, were the tone might have been louder and angrier "You have us on the wrong road. How did you get us lost so quickly?".
For those who lack the historical context, here are the changes in Congressional seats at the first mid-term election for all Presidents since Reagan.
House Senate
Reagan -26 0
Bush I -8 -1
Clinton -54 -9
Bush II +8 +1
Obama -63 -6
Trump* -27 +3
* preliminary per RealClear Politics.com
Despite the evidence of the clear genius of our system I continue to marvel at how unhinged liberal Democrats always are about our institutions if things don't go their way. Somehow everything is great when they are in power (Presidential powers, Senate, House, Supreme Court) but everything is wrong about our Constitution when they are not in power.
I was not happy when Barack Obama was elected President. I thought the American people made a terrible decision compounded by giving the Democrats massive majorities in the 2008 election. I did not cry. I did not confront people on the streets or elected Democrats in restaurants. I did not call the President a fascist. You did not see other Republicans doing that either. Our constitutional system eventually took care of the problem.
Sure, Obama and the Democrats did some damage while they were in power. However, the integrity of the system did not allow them to wreck it. We have come out the other side better for it.
Why can't the Democrats have a similar view?
Despite their gains yesterday there are Democrats who are still unhappy. I could not help but chuckle at a few of the complaints I have seen on Twitter.
Here is Joy Behar saying that the Democrats lost the Senate because of gerrymandering.
How do you gerrymander an entire state?
Joy Behar, I have found the people responsible for gerrymandering the Senate.
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison. Those are the crazy guys that "gerrymandered" the Senate by writing the Constitution.
Sadly, that is the way many liberals think.
Behar is not the only one. This is from another guy who should know better.
Josh, that is why we have a House of Representatives. Did you skip Civics class in school?
Memo to Josh--the Founders never designed a democracy. We have a constitutional republic.
It is also worth remembering that our Constitution has already been amended once (17th) to make it more “democratic” to provide for the direct election of voters. The original document provided for Senators to be selected by the individual state legislatures. The Founders designed a republic in order to better protect minority rights. There is a reason that the Senate and House are different.
Power, politics, greed, bias, conflicts of interest, oppression. There is nothing going on today that our Founders did not anticipate.
Due to the intelligence and insights of our Founding Fathers, they wrote a document that considered all of the above and more in writing the U.S. Constitution. They knew that instability, injustice and confusion within the institution of government had caused many to fail. They were determined to build a governmental structure that could endure for the ages.
Federalist Paper #10 was written (by James Madison) to describe "How the Union Will Act as a Safeguard Against Domestic Division and Rebellion". The Founders understood that opposing political factions were the greatest potential threat to any government and that the the only redress was often violence. They wanted to insure that factions could not wield power that would be dangerous to either the rights of other citizens or the common good.
They also knew that good thinking people would not always be in positions of power. They knew that there would always exist a human instinct that could result in "wicked and improper projects" (the exact words used by Madison). They wanted to avoid situations where the "here and now" interests of the party in power would prevail at the expense of the rights of others and the good of the whole under a pure democracy..
They understood the danger of factious and fringe candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Maxine Waters receiving votes and attaining power. They saw the danger of those with radical religious views gaining a foothold in our government. As a result, the Constitution was designed to deal with all these risks. This is the actual language in Federalist #10.
The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source.
It is a brilliant design. And it works. We keep seeing that over and over again.
Yesterday. The Day After. We will also see it work in the days ahead if we allow it to work as designed.
Why do so many Democrats only understand and accept it when they are in power?
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison understood the problem. That is why the Constitution was written the way it was.
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