Politics

Will Success Spoil The GOP? Most Signs Point to Yes

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Reason contributor and Claremont McKenna political scientist John J. Pitney Jr. writes about the GOP's coming victory in The Wall Street Journal:

Above all, power means responsibility. As political scientist William F. Connelly Jr. reminds us in his splendid new book, "James Madison Rules America," no party in the U.S. Congress is ever simply the "opposition." Like it or not, a Republican majority will have to work with the president to pass budgets and conduct the routine business of government. As the 1995-1996 government shutdowns showed, failures can cause enormous political turmoil. And with vastly larger deficits nowadays, Congress's responsibilities will be heavy indeed.

Republicans hold the keys to majority status in their hands. They won't like everything that's on the other side of the door.

If the past is prologue, neither will we. Whole thing here. 

Pitney just talked to Reason.tv about the libertarian electorate and the likely role it will play in the midterm elections. Take a look-see: