Majority Party Quotes
The prime minister had suggested that the Queen make a State Visit to Ireland. However, such an event would dominate the press and be advantageous to the majority party which was under public criticism for other matters. Queen Victoria did not want State visits or other events involving the crown to be used by the party in power as it might make the Irish feel the visit was not sincere and was simply undertaken for partisan political advantage. However, Victoria did want to try and improve relations with Ireland and suggested a visit later. She was also concerned that some right wingers of the majority party would claim that the reason she was not making the visit was for fear of adverse Irish reaction. There were constant difficulties regarding the degree of Irish autonomy and this was always a potential risk. However, the Queen would not let her position be used for political advantage and postponed the visit. This should be contrasted with the American system where the President is both head of state and head of government and often will undertake a state function for partisan advantage. There is often criticism from the other party, who would prefer the non partisanship of the English crown—until their party wins the Presidency at which time, they too use state functions for political advantage.
The Republicans who won control of Congress in 2000 with a Republican President had campaigned on the principle of smaller government and no deficits. In the next 8 years they spent more than any Congress in history and twice as much as President Clinton had in the previous 8 years not counting military spending and entitlements which were much greater.
He was referring to the then Republican party. When the original Republican Party was founded, it was the much more liberal of the American political parties. After Lincoln and Emancipation, the vast majority of Blacks supported the Republicans. Most feminists of the time were also abolitionists and also supported the party, as did the Hispanics. Most of the young people were Republican. The Democrats were an “old white guy” party/ Over the years the Republican Party grew more conservative, and after Democratic President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act, almost all the racists in the country shifted from the Democratic party to the Republican and this alienated Blacks still further. The Republican Party opposed the Equal Rights Amendment and Affirmative Action, and then despite the efforts of President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain killed immigration reform which alienated most Hispanics. Women and youth shifted awar from the Republican party. Jeb Bush, who married a Hispanic and spoke Spanish fluently, also attracted women and many youth, but he was a Republican exception.
In 2006 the Republican Party controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency. A national debate began over illegal immigration and the Republican party was split over what to do about the 11 million illegal immigrants living and working among us and their roughly 3 million American-born children who were citizens of the United States. The Republican House and the Republican Senate were at loggerheads over two different approaches to the problem and nothing was getting done.
This is a fascinating quotation in that it was true in Hayes’ tenure and at other times in American History, but at other times it was not at all the case. Two notable examples were the administrations of Thomas Jefferson and those of George W. Bush. Voters claim to not like partisanship but in many eras they do not punish the majority for their lack of bipartisanship.
