Americans will soon vote in one of the most important elections in the nation's history. And it will not involve Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or John McCain.
This is the reality of American "exceptionalism," a unique form of divided powers in which a president is the nation's "head of state" but neither head of government nor head of the government's lawmaking -- and thus priority-setting -- branch. Presidents can often persuade the Congress to move in one direction or another, but what actually happens will be Congress's decision. It is in choosing the members of the next Congress that voters will most decisively set the nation's course.
At the moment it appears increasingly likely that Democrats will not only keep control of Congress but increase their majorities, perhaps significantly. And that is perhaps as it should be. It is not that the nation has moved to the left (for the most part we remain a slightly right-of-center country, the sole reason Senator Clinton remains a marginally viable candidate) but that the country has, for seven years, observed the abysmal performance not only of the incumbent Republican president, a disaster if ever there was one, but of Republicans in the House and Senate who have repeatedly humiliated themselves in their willingness to toss aside the most important elements of American constitutional government.
Democrats have already won three traditionally Republican House seats in this year's special elections and Republican efforts to stanch the bleeding have begun to verge on the ridiculous. John Boehner, the GOP leader in the House of Representatives, wants his party's House members to adopt a mantra of "change" even as they are precisely what the nation wants to change from. Newt Gingrich, the man whose behavior as Speaker is what led to the repeated shrinking of his party's majorities and himself being shown the door by exasperated colleagues, has taken it upon himself to give his successors "guidance". And Tom Cole, the chairman of the Republican minority's campaign arm, found himself saddled with a committee that was in debt, allegedly being drained of financial resources by one of its employees, burdened by a grossly unpopular president, and faced with the retirements of 30 incumbents, most of whom would have been expected to win re-election but whose departure presents Democrats with open seats they could well win; Gingrich, of course, has indicated that the current mess is somehow Cole's fault.
Desperate to find a way to win, Republicans are in danger of doing precisely the opposite of what they should be doing. They are being advised to tie themselves to the fortunes of John McCain. It is not inconceivable that McCain could, in fact, become president, but he won't carry Republicans with him; if he wins, it'll be because the voters see him almost as an anti-Republican and because they have not been won over by the Democratic nominee. What Republicans should do is to remember the old adage, once considered beyond serious debate, that "all politics is local." They should make clear to the voters that their loyalty will be to their constitutional obligations (long since abandoned by most of them) and to their constituents. That is, in other words, that they will go back to Washington loyal to their duties and not to their political party and not to a President, even if he should happen to be one of their own.
Republican members of Congress are in trouble because they deserve to be. Because they yawned when a Republican president declared that he was free to disobey the law. Because they walked out of the House chambers rather than vote to enforce congressional subpoenas of administration officials. Because they acted like White House staff rather than as members of a separate and equal branch of government.
What should congressional Republicans do if they are to have any chance of winning even a sizable minority in November? First, they should emulate at least one element of their old "Contract With America". That is, they should all gather together one last time on the Capitol steps. And they should apologize, collectively, to the American people for their behavior both as a majority and as a minority, guilty beyond doubt of nonfeasance (not doing their duty). And then they should go home to their constituents, plead for forgiveness, and promise that if they are returned to Washington they will remember to take the oath of office seriously: to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God. If they cannot do that, they will lose and they will deserve to lose.
A member of Congress for 16 years, Mickey Edwards was a member of the House Republican leadership. His new book is "Reclaiming Conservatism" (Oxford University Press).