Sweeping up the confetti

Republicans were in a celebratory mood last week, an attitude that called up memories of the election of 1994. On that night, 20 years ago, stars were born: Rick Santorum and Fred Thompson in the U.S. Senate; Sam Brownback, Tom Coburn, J.C. Watts, Joe Scarborough, and Lindsey Graham in the U.S. House of Representatives. And in Texas, a failed congressional candidate named George W. Bush rode his name recognition and affable personality to the governor’s mansion, evicting Democrat Ann Richards. Newt Gingrich was the obvious winner of the night, whose election strategy got the credit for putting Republicans in charge of the House for the first time in 42 years. But all those names are now faded or tarnished, whether fairly or unfairly. Politics will do that. Gingrich himself, leader of the “Republican Revolution,” gave in to the temptations of pride leading all too predictably to a fall.

Political thinkers and writers on the right are seeing stars again: a new generation of standard-bearers like Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse, and Mia Love, among others. They’re gearing up for another revolution. For years they’ve been feeling the pulse of the American electorate and claiming that underneath the hype and spin, our hearts beat red—the nation was just waiting for true conservative leaders to articulate the vision. Sorting through emails on Wednesday, I noticed this subject line: “American People Sent a Clear Message on Election Day.”

With all respect, any messages the American people send are as garbled as a game of Telephone. Moods are clear enough, but not messages. A bad national mood usually brings about a change in leadership, but reasons are muddled. Long-term trends are impossible to predict and almost immediately devalued (see, for instance, James Carville’s 40 More Years: How Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation, published in 2009, now available for a penny on Amazon.com).

After a sweeping election, the losing party is always in disarray and it’s hard to see the trees in the forest of pointing fingers. But in time the Democrats will get their act together again. If American history tells us anything, it’s that the two-party system is our heritage and destiny. Attempts to build a viable third party, or to consolidate all real power in one party, are bound to fail. Voters should remember that, and also this: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Psalm 146:3, ESV). Political saviors come and go, but none of them actually save. They can only tug the huge unwieldy ship of state a few degrees to the left or right, and all will disappoint expectations.