It's important to keep these things (elections) in perspective, and nobody does it better than Randy Evans. They call Karl Rove the architect, Karl has nothing on Randy and he's right more often.
Here's Randy's most recent column giving some historical perspective on all of this.
In case anyone missed it, there was an election on November 2, 2010.
So, here is how it works. Americans let elected officials govern.
Every so often, elected officials get confused about what this means and
start to believe that indeed they have the power. So, Americans remind
them about who has the real power in this country. Sometimes, the
reminders are subtle, gentle reminders. Sometimes, they are not. On
November 2, 2010, the reminder was in the 'not so subtle' category.
Most recognize, including Republicans, that the November 2, 2010
election did not have much to do with Republicans at all. The Pledge To
America was not the primary motivating factor moving voters to show up
in big numbers to vote out incumbents. None of the Republican leaders
(in either the House of Representatives or the Senate) were powerfully
charismatic leaders using powers of persuasion to play on the emotions
of voters to win an election in spite of the issues.
Instead, the November 2, 2010 election was a full-fledged rejection of
arrogant power that forgets that the true and only source of power under
the Constitution of the United States is 'We the People.' As simple as
it is, politicians need a pretty constant reminder.
Arrogant power is not unique to either Democrats or Republicans. In
1994, voters rejected President Bill Clinton and the first two years of
his Presidency along with over forty years of Democratic Congressional
rule. In 2006, voters rejected President Bush and the Republican
Congress after they spent well beyond anything that Americans were
willing to accept. And, in 2010, voters rejected President Obama and
the Democratic Congress after they proved that they really did not care
what Americans thought and moved forward with their own agenda.
Although some talking heads think otherwise, this is also not a
relatively new phenomenon in American politics resulting from the advent
of the internet or Cable News. Certainly, the flow of information has
never been faster or more accessible. But, such explanations ignore
American history. American voters have flexed their political muscle
many, many times, especially when they did not like the way things were
going. As a result, there have been big swings in Congressional
elections since the country's beginning, which have continued throughout
the history of the United States.
While the 2010 likely 64 seat pick-up by Republicans appears monumental
in contemporary political terms, there have been bigger swings. In
1842, the Whig Party lost 70 seats. It was a sign of bad things to come
for the Whigs. In 1854, Democrats lost 70 seats and the American Party
(another relic of American political history) picked up 62 seats.
In 1874, the Democrats picked up 94 seats with the Republicans losing 96
seats. In 1890, the Democrats picked up 86 seats with the Republicans
losing 93 seats to be followed in short order with the Republicans then
picking up 130 seats and the Democrats losing 125 seats. To make the
point, American voters then in 1896 turned around and took away 48 seats
from the Republicans.
Other big swings happened in 1922, (when Republicans lost 77 seats),
1932, (when Democrats picked up 97 seats), 1938, (when Republicans
picked up 81 seats), and 1948, (when Democrats picked up 75 seats).
Sometimes these swings happen quite quickly. During an eight year
period from 1912 to 1920, there were three 60+ Congressional seat swing
elections. During a four year period from 1942 to 1946, there were two
5-0+/- seat swings in 1942 and 1946.
All of this puts the 54 seat pick up by Republicans in 1994, 31 seat
pick up by Democrats in 2006, and likely 64 seat pick up by Republicans
in 2010 in some perspective. But, there does appear to be one common
theme among these big election swings. Voters expect results. If
politicians cannot deliver on fixing the economy, curbing spending,
ending a war, or addressing corruption, voters will elect someone else.
Failure is not an option. Neither is delay.
This is not to say that the Republican wins on November 2, 2010 are not
huge. They are monumental. After all, Republicans only lost 48 seats
during 1974, the year of Watergate. So, 64 is a big number. But, no
one should get confused about what it all means.
Job one for the Republicans is to focus on jobs. Yes, addressing
Obamacare is important. Extending the tax cuts is important. But
everything has to be viewed through the prism of jobs. For any
politician who thinks this is about them, or something else, voters can
and will set them straight - like they just did.
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