Democrats clearly need some career advice. Though the oldest party in politics, they still don’t understand that 90 percent of success is just showing up.
Most recently, Democrats boycotted votes on two of Trump’s cabinet picks. For two days, they skipped work altogether. And then when Republicans started the nominating business without them, Sen. Ron Wyden accused his GOP colleagues of “breaking the rules to push through, on a partisan basis, two nominees.”
But the ranking Democrat won’t find much sympathy with the electorate. Turns out, walking away from the job is frowned upon. Had Wyden been paying attention, he’d know this.
In the last six years, Democrats have staged legislative walkouts in three states and they haven’t gone well.
Wisconsin Democrats started the craze in 2011, when fourteen senators fled to neighboring Illinois, denying Gov. Scott Walker the quorum needed to finalize a budget. Indiana Democrats followed suit in 2012, when House members crossed state lines to axe right-to-work legislation. And Michigan Democrats pulled off a similar stunt the same year.
Truancy, however, hasn’t proved a winning strategy. Each time Democrats exit the state capitol, Republicans enter in their place. Since 2012, Republicans have been undefeated in every regularly scheduled state election. As a result, the GOP controls the House, Senate, and governor’s mansion in all three states.
Of course there are some differences in Democrats’ state and federal tactics. Different issues triggered different walkouts of differing severity. But it’s difficult to predict a different result at the national level.
Wyden isn’t in a position to blow off work anyway. Twenty-three Democrats are up for reelection in 2018, including nine of his members on the Senate Finance Committee who just skipped work.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
