The Way of the Whigs

An Iraq war that has cost us nearly half trillion dollars—and the good will of the world—might not have done it. Runaway federal spending that allowed the national debt to reach $8.5 trillion might not have done it. George Bush’s low approval ratings, the lack of comprehensive immigration reform, the historical pattern of an anti-incumbent “six-year itch” in presidencies, the cascade of stories about administration ineptitude and dissembling and congressional financial and lobbying corruption—none of these issues seemed destined to end the Republicans’ 12-year reign in Congress.

Then came the Foley Scandal. If the Democrats can’t take the Hill now, they deserve to go the way of the Whigs.

Howard Fineman, It Takes a Sex Scandal
Newsweek, 10/3/06

If, after the Foley episode — a maraschino cherry atop the Democrats’ delectable sundae of Republican miseries — the Democrats cannot gain 13 seats, they should go into another line of work.

George Will, What Goeth Before the Fall
The Washington Post, 10/5/06

What line of work did most former Whigs go into? Wikipedia says that most quit politics or switched parties when their own party reached met it’s demise in the 1850s.

I’m not ready to join the Whigs yet, but I’ve been tempered enough by seeing my party snatch defeat (or have victory stolen) in the face of what looked like a sure win. And so I try not to let comments like those above get me too carried away with optimism over the coming elections. And yet, given how badly George Bush is fucking up our country, with the Republican Congress as his willing accomplices, anything less than a major Democratic victory next month will certainly leave me feeling ready to join the Whigs, wherever it is that they went.

(OK, you might point out that many went to the Republican Party. In 1860, I may have as well. But not in 2006 or anytime in this century, that I promise.)