CONGRESS DOESN'T GOVERN:

No idea is more dearly held by political activists than the notion that voters will reward elected officials who enact an ambitious policy agenda. But it's entirely possible that what voters really want, especially in a time of political and social insecurity, is competence and stability.

Two of the most popular governors in America are Larry Hogan of Maryland and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts. Neither can be said to have a signature accomplishment or celebrated failure. In both cases, a Republican with moderate affect narrowly won a governor's race in a huge Republican wave year and then spent four years mostly checking the excesses of a Democratic legislature. For their trouble, they both won with landslide victories.

Conversely, Kansas has a Democratic governor because the state's Republican Party decided to enact supply-side economics. It was an unpopular disaster, and led to a backlash in an extremely red state. Something similar happened in Vermont in 2016, when Governor Peter Shumlin made an ambitious push for single-payer health care. The legislature suffered sticker shock over the price tag, and a Republican got elected basically on a promise to not rock the boat too much. He then cruised to re-election and remains popular based on his competent handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Americans are just more complacent than activists on either side of the aisle want to believe.

Are parents mad about "woke" teachers injecting Critical Race Theory into the classroom? Some of them, probably. But 73% of parents say they are satisfied with the education their children are receiving.

Or consider the U.S. health care system, which virtually every analyst on both the left and right says is wracked by huge irrationalities and inefficiencies. Most people are satisfied with the health insurance they have -- whether from the public or private sector. Famously, a single national health insurance system polls very well until people learn it would involve eliminating private insurance or shifting health cost payments into the tax system. Indeed, Americans aren't even that bothered about the amount of taxes they pay -- though woe betide anyone who tries to raise taxes on the middle class.

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