WurfWhile

I have long assumed that Republicans have a competitive advantage over Democrats in governing. “Conservatives” tend to believe in little and slow change - people are best left alone, and government can do little to help them. This makes governing a lot easier. You don’t need to deliver much to be perceived as a success - and the hardest problems, those involving people, are largely insolvable. “Liberals” on the other hand, are advocates of change and believe in improvement through governing, especially human improvement - a tougher goal to measure up against. The structural advantage I thought Republicans enjoyed came from believing them to be conservative. Likewise, the structural disadvantage that I thought Democrats suffered from came from believing them to be liberal. I no longer believe this to be the case - and really it hasn’t been for quite a while. Everything has shifted right - no matter what the talking heads say. There aren’t liberals of national power/influence now - or at least none of real consequence. While this is not news, what I hadn’t done was think through the consequences. Republicans will start to suffer the competitive disadvantage of real change from their increasingly reactionary program, and Democrats will enjoy greater structural advantage from their increased conservatism. I do not know when this will show success politically for the Democrats, alone the structural advantage is not enough, but I suspect it could start with the presidency in 2004. For those with liberal leanings this will be anything but inspirational. We are in a conservative era - and for now the Democrats will not change it.