As Democrats and Republicans continue to vie for political advantage, Congress remains paralyzed by partisan conflict. That the last two decades have seen some of the least productive Congresses in recent history is usually explained by the growing ideological gulf between the parties, but this explanation misses another fundamental factor influencing the dynamic. In contrast to politics through most of the twentieth century, the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties compete for control of Congress at relative parity, and this has dramatically changed the parties’ incentives and strategies in ways that have driven the contentious partisanship characteristic of contemporary American politics. With Insecure Majorities, Frances E. Lee offers a controversial new perspective on the rise of congressional party conflict, showing how the shift in competitive circumstances has had a profound impact on how Democrats and Republicans interact. For nearly half a century, Democrats were the majority party, usually maintaining control of the presidency, the House, and the Senate. Republicans did not stand much chance of winning majority status, and Democrats could not conceive of losing it. Under such uncompetitive conditions, scant collective action was exerted by either party toward building or preserving a majority. Beginning in the 1980s, that changed, and most elections since have offered the prospect of a change of party control. Lee shows, through an impressive range of interviews and analysis, how competition for control of the government drives members of both parties to participate in actions that promote their own party’s image and undercut that of the opposition, including the perpetual hunt for issues that can score political points by putting the opposing party on the wrong side of public opinion. More often than not, this strategy stands in the way of productive bipartisan cooperation—and it is also unlikely to change as long as control of the government remains within reach for both parties.

Recommended on 2 episodes:

Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?

We are one year into Trump’s second term. And it feels like so much has happened – more than the human mind, or the country, can absorb. But how much has Trump really accomplished? What policies have changed the country in a way that will last? My guest Yuval Levin is one of the smartest thinkers on the right, and his verdict is: not that much. “There’s an important story to tell about the absence of action in the past year, too,” he tells me. Levin is the director of social, cultural and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute, the founder and editor of National Affairs and the author of several books on policy and political theory, including “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again.”

Books recommended:

• 📕  Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign by Frances E. Lee
• 📘  Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic by Lindsay M. Chervinsky
• 📗  Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court by Sarah Isgur

Yuval Levin Jan. 16, 2026 3 books recommended

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What deliberative democracy can, and can’t, do (with Jane Mansbridge)

Books recommended:

• 📙  Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy (Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology, Series Number 555) by Michael A. Neblo, Kevin M. Esterling, David M. J. Lazer
• 📕  Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation by James S. Fishkin
• 📘  Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign by Frances E. Lee

July 11, 2019 3 books recommended

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