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A mandate to keep the president in check, but to govern? That's tricky.
@evan Yes in the states where they won the Governorship. The other wins are a mandate to legislate.
@Chigaze legislating is governing. They are part of the government.
@evan Fair enough but then I think the question loses meaning because what is getting elected other than a mandate to govern.
@Chigaze what a good question! I think one model for the midterm elections is that they are elected to oppose or slow down the administration. Refuse funding, do investigations, maybe even impeach officials. But maybe there's a point in which the electoral margin is high enough that it's not just a mandate to oppose, but a mandate to lead. That's the context of my question; you can answer in whatever framework makes sense for you.
@evan Not as I understand the american system. The power rests with the president.. they just get to oppose it.
@evan they have a huge margin and a lot of real power, but I understand the vote to be mostly against Trump rather than for whatever he Democrats were running on.
(Foreign and cynical; I hope for the best for y'all)
@LyallMorrison I guess the question is, at what point does the margin define them as the governing party, rather than the opposition?
@LyallMorrison It's probably worth noting that the US doesn't have a parliamentary system of government; the executive and legislative branch are supposed to be equal in power.
@evan sure, I was thinking more from the British perspective where Labour at least will wring their hands and plead lack of mandate to avoid making any changes they didn't campaign on in the last election.
I find the concept of mandate quite interesting, although usually a hobble on left leaning parties which the right ignores.
@evan If they stop fucking up.
Maybe a miracle will happen and they will run somebody who is competent and not geriatric for president.
@evan Yes, but not in that centrist self-serving way that they’ve done implementing neoliberalism since Bill Clinton and even, to a certain extent, Jimmy Carter (he started the deregulation game).