I have been inspired by the confirmation hearings in the US Senate to write down my rules of politics. This is the first one. I didn’t make this one up, I heard it in my first run for elected office in 1990, and it has been confirmed in all my dealings in politics since that time. The rule is this:
“In this country, there is the evil party and the stupid party and it is not hard to tell which is which.”
We are watching this rule play out at the national level right now. As Trump’s appointments make their way through the US Senate, the principal opposition to their appointment is all of the Democrats and a couple of Republicans here and there. Compare that with the appointment process when Biden was elected President. All the Democrats were united in support of the appointments, with several Republicans joining them. The Rs that joined in voting for the Biden appointees always received accolades from the legacy media, just as the Rs who oppose Trump’s appointees get now.
The common theme among the Rs for Biden appointees was that a President deserves the Cabinet he wants. The Ds believe that for a Democrat President, and heartily said that throughout the confirmation process then. They didn’t then, and don’t now, believe that because they will never give a Republican President that same accommodation.
Legislative politics, at its core, is a team sport, and Democrats understand that intuitively. Republicans do not. They think there is something righteous about their “independence.” Most of the time, their independence is just a move for good press. It is rarely a matter of principle. They know if they strike out on their own, and join with the Democrats, they will get great headlines. Democrats know that staying with their team, even when they disagree with the direction of the party, ultimately strengthens their hand when negotiating for the policies or money they want in the legislative process.
I will tell one short story about one of my colleagues in the California State Senate. We had 15 R Senators then, and losing two in a vote meant the Ds could do what they want. I was the Republican Whip, and there was a bill that I was negotiating that needed those two R votes to pass. I went to one of the Rs and asked him to hold so I could get the changes I needed. The R said “you’ll never get those changes.” I asked him to give me a chance, and after a lot of talking, he finally said “fine, I’ll wait til the end of session.” After two hours of session, the D author finally said ok, I’ll give you the changes you want, and the R was surprised that my plan for the changes worked. I told the R that’s why we move as a team, we are all stronger for it. That R Senator termed out very soon after that, but said several times he thought something like I achieved was impossible. He told me that he would have changed his voting habits in the past if he known being a part of the team would work to change Ds behavior.
That is the essence of the teamwork concept in legislative politics. I didn’t always agree with my colleagues, and there were limits to how far I would go with them, but I learned that I got more of what I wanted if I hung with the team.
The voters expect Republicans to act as that team, and Republicans officeholders think teamwork is a sign of weakness. That is why we are the stupid party. And I don’t have to say why the Democrats are the evil party.