Frustrated Democrats

There seems to be general agreement that the Democratic Party leadership and rank-and-file are particularly embittered. They are embittered with their dismal electoral fate over several decades and full of bile and spleen about the continued successes of Republican Party candidates. And they have good reason to be bitter.

Most people do not realize the depth of the Republican hold on electoral and appointive posts and for how long the Republican Party has been in power in Washington and in the 50 states. That may explain the embitterment.

Martin Anderson has drawn up an analysis of party power in the United States which is a real eye-opener. (In the interests of full disclosure, Mr. Anderson is a Hoover Institution colleague). Arthur Laffer, a famed analyst of supply-side economics, has in his latest news letter expanded on the Anderson analysis “to provide perspective on the unprecedented hatred directed at Republicans in general and President Bush in particular.”

“In a word, the explanation for the unprecedented hostility,” writes Mr. Laffer, “is the intense jealousy and disappointment felt by Democrats who have in recent years lost virtually all power to their former Republican subordinates. Today, Republicans occupy or hold majorities in all seven U.S. power positions, a degree of dominance seldom seen.”

• Power Position No. 1 is, of the course, the presidency. Republicans have held that position 24 out of the last 36 years and it is once more in Republican hands.

• Power Position No. 2 is the Senate, where the party in power controls the policy agenda in virtually every major area of national endeavor. In the 1994 elections, Republicans wrested Senate control from the Democrats and it is now solidly in Republican control. In the coming election, Republicans have 15 seats at risk to 19 seats for the Democrats.

• Power Position No. 3 is the House of Representatives. In the 1960s, the House was in the hands of the Democrats, and it wasn’t even close. In the 89th Congress of 1965-66, Democrats held 295 seats to 140 seats for Republicans. Today the count is 205 Democratic, 228 Republican.

• Power Position No. 4 are state governorships. There are 28 Republican and 22 Democratic governors. And Republican governors rule in big states like New York, California and Florida.

• Power Position No. 5 are the state legislatures, once controlled by Democrats lock, stock and barrel. No more. For two years running, Republicans have controlled 21 state legislatures vs. the Democrats’ 17, the remainder split. There is an even more remarkable change in the state legislatures. In 1974, Democrats held 5,100 state legislature seats or 68 percent of the total while Republicans held only 2,385 or 32 percent. Today Republicans hold 3,683 seats in both lower and upper houses vs. 3,625 held by Democrats.

• Power Position No. 6: Seven of the nine current Supreme Court justices were Republican presidential nominees. Only two were nominated by a Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

• Power Position No. 7: the president chooses the Federal Reserve Board chairman. subject to Senate confirmation.

Simply, Republicans have held the majority of the seven power positions every year since 1995. Today they control all seven.

So we know how and what happened. But why? This is the Anderson-Laffer explanation:

In the late 1960s, when the Democratic Party controlled all seven power positions, it was a pro-growth, strong defense party while Republicans were isolationists and high-tax supporters. That all changed with the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, who was enthusiastically pro-growth and pro-defense. Even President Clinton, who epitomized a partial Democratic resurgence by defeating George H.W. (“read my lips”) Bush, went in for tax cuts, free trade and a sound money program.

A Bush re-election victory, says Mr. Laffer, would mean “a continuation of this Republican dominance. The Democrats have their backs against the wall.” That, as I said at the beginning, may explain the embitterment of the Democratic Party and its rank-and-file.

Arnold Beichman, a Hoover Institution research fellow, is a columnist for The Washington Times. His updated biography “Herman Wouk, the Novelist as Social Historian,” has just been published.