Although part of me has been relishing the crack-up of the political left, in the long-run, the American eagle can’t fly straight with one ideological wing so badly damaged. A viable opposition is a necessary check against the excesses of the majority.

During the many decades when the Democratic Party controlled the House of Representatives, the party apparatus became increasingly corrupt and out-of-touch with the electorate. Their power was solidified by gerrymandering, a practice that is no less abhorrent now that the Republicans are the ones doing it.

Ultimately, Democratic control of the House was done in by scandals like trading stamps for money at the House Post Office or floating bad checks at the House Bank. Having unchallenged power leads people to do stupid things, and those stupid things led to the sweeping Republican tide in the 1994 elections, a rout so bad that the Speaker of the House couldn’t even win re-election in his home district.

It’s been ten years since the Democrats lost control of the House, and the Republicans should remember what put them in power in the first place. In the New York Post, John Podhoretz raps the Republican leaders in the House and warns them of the dangers of their own arrogance; they would be wise to heed his message.