SO BOEHNER'S TEARS are treated as genuine emotion by liberals, just as they treated Republican concerns with respect and compromise in Congress when Democrats had all the power.
And now that Republicans have been given a second chance Boehner is already saying that he has a mandate from the American people to refuse to compromise with Democrats.
Let's look at his belief through the lens of a reality bias:
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On the level of the election as a whole, the House became Republican, but the Senate remained Democratic.
Thus, it would seem that the "will of the people" was somehow also in favor of the Democratic approach, or perhaps a compromise approach. -
On the level of wins and losses in the house, Republicans won 239 seats, but Democrats won 186 seats at the latest count (there are still some undecided).
The "will of the people," even in the house, is far from unanimous—even if Boehner wants to assume that every single person who voted for a Republican actually embraces the entire Republican agenda, which is clearly doubtful.
Over forty percent of the seats went to Democrats.
Another indication that the will of the American people is compromise. -
On the level of the will of the American people, voter turnout was only around 42%, which means that insofar as the mixed results above indicate anything, they only indicate it for less than half of the voters.
So any belief that this election gives Republicans a mandate from the American people to ram their policies down Democratic throats is just plain silly.
They won control of the house. That's all.
Which gives them the responsibility to represent, not just the 25 or 30% of the voters who voted Republican, but all of the voters—even those who voted for Democrats or didn't vote at all.
And how can they do that?
Compromise.
Oh, they'll have the edge: in the house, anyway, even true compromises will probably lean in their favor—that's what winning provides them.
But the strange idea that they can run roughshod over the other side—that all those voters who voted for Democrats don't get a voice at all now—is both unAmerican and stupid.
This is the reality contact that the Democrats have maintained during the last two years.
Faced with a Republican party that was unwilling to meet them even halfway, they insisted on compromising anyway.
They compromised on healthcare, they compromised on the stimulus, they compromised on don't ask, don't tell, they compromised on issue after issue even when it didn't win them a single Republican vote.
They represented all of America, not just their own base.
They understood—they got it.
And what they got was:
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Reality:
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The truth that they are there to represent everyone, not just the people who voted for them, and
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The truth that election results, by their nature, don't tell anyone the complete will of the American people.
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Faith and Good Will:
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A willingness to believe that the other side has something to contribute,
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A willingness to believe that the people across the aisle have good intentions, and
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A willingness to believe that between you, if you both give a little and take a little, you can come up with solutions that will work for everyone.
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That's because they are the kind of people who will take Boehner's tears at face value, and who insist on living in the real world.
And that's Boehner's challenge—and the challenge his party faces—in this new position of power—to match that level of faith and good will, to match that level of reality contact.
To see Democrats as potential allies, rather than the enemy.
It's a big challenge, and new territory for Republicans.
It will require a lot of growing up, in a very short time.
But I guess I'm a liberal.
Because I think he might just be able to pull it off.
