Fragile majority

It is easy in this hyperpartisan era to forget that we elect representatives and senators and not parties. The Congress of the United States as well as legislative bodies organized in the fashion of the British Parliament all agree that an absolute majority of the membership is required to organize and conduct business. Please note that there is no mention of party in that statement.

While it rarely arises in Washington it is not at all unusual to have a legislative body or a parliament containing more than two parties. When this happens it is also not unusual to have a situation where no one bloc or party has a functioning majority of at least 50 percent of its membership plus one. The usual solution is for two or more parties get together to form a coalition that contains a functioning majority. This coalition need not even contain the party that elected the most members.

The bottom line is what we have is a coalition government in the United State Senate of 48 Democrats and two independents that when combined with the vice president provides the (barely but functionally required) majority necessary to organize and conduct business. It is, to be sure, a fragile working majority. To demonstrate how truly fragile it is please consider that if either independent senator or even one disgruntled Democrat decided to change allegiance the existing power structure would immediately change hands.

Ron Smoko North Haven