The End of the Democrat Party As We Know It.

Towards the end of my first term in elected office, I secretly decided to lead by example. I have long believed in the virtues of the concept of the “citizen-legislator” our Founding Fathers so hoped would rule their newborn country. The year was 1994, and the Republicans – whose banner I had run under – had just swept control of the House for the first time in two generations. It appeared the Democrat Party was done for, that Republicans would rule for generations.

Upon hearing of my still secret decision not to seek reelection, a non-political non-constituent friend exclaimed with incredulity, “Why would you quit now? You’re Party is peaking.”

Call it the contrarian in me, but I did not agree. In politics, success sows the seeds of failure. Think about it. You only need 50% plus one person to win election. Once you’re inaugurated, however, you need to start making decisions. Now, it’s a fair assumption that no living person – not even your own mother – will agree with your decisions 100% of the time. But politics is funny, a lot of people don’t forgive you once you make that one decision they don’t agree with (hopefully, this is not the case of your own mother). So, little by little, the electoral majority that brought you into office begins peeling away. Soon, you’ll have accrued enough disagreeable decisions that you become vulnerable to defeat.

So shall it be for today’s democrats. Oddly enough, though, given the way the rookie has been performing, it might happen sooner than even I expected.

N.B.: Soviet Democrat Logo from american elephants blog (they used the lower case, not me).