Blue Dog Democrats—What Do You Expect With Only Two Major Parties In A Nation Of 300 Million People?

Many of my fellow liberals are upset about the so-called Blue Dog Democrats who are putting the breaks on aspects of President Obama’s health care proposals.

While I also wish that everyone was as liberal as I am, I’m not sure what people expected after last November’s elections.

If you try to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives when there are only two major political parties for over 300 million people, and if you contest and win House seats in Republican leaning districts—What do you imagine you’ll get? A Democratic majority of all liberals?

I think some of these blue dogs could be a bit more brave. I also think President Obama could do a better job selling his ideas to the public. I wish the public as a whole got things right more often instead of allowing themselves to be scared by false notions of government running their lives.

Yet in the end I have to wonder what people figured would be the result when Democrats won House  and Senate seats— in both 2006 and 2008—that had previously been held by Republicans.

There are only two major political parties in our nation of over 300 million people. Any legislative majority in the House or Senate is likely to consist of a variety of viewpoints. This is especially so for Democrats who have a far more diverse voter base than do Republicans.

Democrats can win as many legislative seats as possible and have a more divided caucus, or they can lose some of the more moderate members and have smaller majorities or no majority at all.

Advertisement