Harry Enten of 538.com just pointed out that this is the first Presidential election since the 17th Amendment in which no Senator was elected in a State which was won by the other party’s Presidential candidate. Clinton won New Hampshire, the Senate seat went to the Democrat. It was the same in all 34 States with Senate elections.
As long as we’re polarized like this, the Republicans will control the Senate. Right now, at a minimum, I can name 30 red States. There are something like 15 blue ones. The other 5 are purple. Over the course of the next two election cycles, 2018 and 2020, the Senate should see 60 Republicans, a filibuster proof majority. And they could win some of those purple states, as they have done in the past with moderates.
If Trump is successful, the Democrats are going to be in big trouble.
Which gets me to Article V, and the Balanced Budget Amendment. We should get support from moderate Democrats in States like Kentucky, and we will. But where we really need some help is in the Minnesota Senate, where Birchers live, and we have a one vote majority.
If you’re a reasonable Democrat, why wouldn’t you be for a BBA? It’s their country that’s going bankrupt, as much as it is ours. They know something needs to be done. Trump won’t balance the budget, he won’t even try. He’s the King of Debt. He brags about it. He’s a builder, above all else, and in order to build you need money, and if you have to borrow to build, you borrow.
Democrats need to understand that until 2020, or 2022, or 2024, there’as going to be a whole lot of spending going on, and they won’t have a thing to say about how it’s spent. The Republicans will be the ones doing all the spending, and the Democrats will be paying the bills.
Maybe the future of the Democratic Party is to be the party of fiscal restraint? It worked, twice, for Grover Cleveland, who was the 22nd and the 24th President. Maybe they ought to give it a try. What else have they got?
Oh, I forgot, they’ve got demographics. But the very same Harry Enten, in a good piece at 538.com, finally admits I’ve been right all along. Demographics aren’t destiny. Political parties change, constantly, and demographics are just one aspect of the shifting coalitions that political parties are.
The Democrats will come back. They always do, Republicans as well. Because we’ve got this two party system so ingrained in our institutions, all people who are in opposition to the party in power will coalesce in the party out of power. As long as the party in power keeps most people happy, it stays in power. But only for so long, usually for no more than twenty years.
I actually saw crazy old Art Laffer on Fox Business, and he got all jacked up, and talked about staying in power for 1,000 years. I’ll settle for a hundred. The Progressive movement began around 100 years ago, and it will take 100 years to get back to the Constitution.
Maybe the future of the Democratic Party is to be the Washington Generals. The loser party. Let that be the epitaph of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Everybody talks about Obama losing his legacy, and he will. But he’s doing it with class, and grace. This will be, he is determined, to be the most seamless transition in power we’ve ever had.
The Clintons, both of them, have been personally humiliated, and exposed as the frauds they’ve always been. The big money days are over, and they’ll have to pay all those legal bills somehow. Money’s going to be a problem. The Crime Foundation is kaput, and they’ll be lucky to escape indictment.
They lost it all, just like that. The Lord is just.
reaganproject.com 