Is There a Silver Lining After Georgia?

Although I do not wish to minimize the danger posed by Democrats now that they will soon control both houses and the Presidency, an article from the Atlantic offers a ray of hope regarding the mid-terms.

In "The Problem With a 50-50 Senate," Yascha Mounk notes that the razor-thin majorities in each house may well combine with ideological differences among the Democrats to make control something of a curse. (The best example of that would be Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has stated that he will oppose court-packing, and who supports continuing the use of coal as an energy source.)

Here is how this can backfire:

Image by Jasmin Sessler, via Unsplash, license.

Republican control of the Senate would also have made it much simpler for Biden to manage the expectations of the party's activist wing. If activists had pushed for progressive policies that were deeply unpopular with most Americans, Biden could truthfully have pointed to Mitch McConnell's majority as a reason to desist. Every one of McConnell's obstructionist moves would have delayed a civil war within the Democratic Party by another week or month.

Finally, a Republican Senate would have provided the White House with a compelling culprit for anything that might go wrong in the next four years. When facing the voters again in 2024, Biden could have blamed his opponents' refusal to cooperate or compromise for the country's problems -- and asked them for a clearer mandate to finish the job. [bold added]

The last line, to the effect that Biden won't be able to ramrod a "progressive" agenda through Congress, is heartening in the short term.

And if the Republicans distance themselves from Trump -- and discover that they could offer voters the real alternative of limited government -- there will be cause for optimism in 2022 and 2024.

-- CAV