When a party is in opposition, it opposes. That's its job. But when it comes to power, it must govern. Easy rhetoric is over, the press of reality becomes irresistible. By necessity, it adopts some of the policies it had once denounced. And a new national consensus is born.
Interpretation
Political parties shift their strategies when they come into power, often adopting policies they previously opposed.
In this quote, Charles Krauthammer highlights the transition that political parties undergo when they move from opposition to governance. While parties might oppose certain views or policies when they are not in power, they inevitably face the realities of governance when they attain that power, leading to compromises and the adoption of some previously denounced policies, resulting in a new consensus within the political landscape.
In practice
In a discussion about the shifting policies of political parties, this quote can illustrate the inherent contradictions faced by leaders once they come into power.
If you get a call to go to a certain place in the middle of the night to pick up stolen goods, and it turns out the stolen goods don't show up but the cops show up, I think you're going to have a very weak story saying, 'Well, I got swindled here.'
I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking.
The joy of losing consists in this: Where there are no expectations, there is no disappointment.
You're betraying your whole life if you don't say what you think - and you don't say it honestly and bluntly.
History has blessed us with all the freedom and advantages of multiculturalism. But it has also blessed us, because of the accident of our origins, with the linguistic unity that brings a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America. Why gratuitously throw away that priceless asset? How mindless to call the desire to retain it 'racist.
Sometimes it's easy to go where the wind blows, but those that stand firmly planted are forces to be reckoned with.
Socialism in Russia has not brought about an improvement in the conditions of the average man which can be compared with the improvement of conditions, during the same period, in the United States.
Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time... its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.
Under its current form, that is imperialism-controlled, debt is a cleverly managed re-conquest of Africa, aiming at subjugating its growth and development through foreign rules. Thus, each one of us becomes the financial slave, which is to say a true slave.
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
Inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds expression in the anonymity of the Corporate State. It purports to cherish democracy, patriotism, and the Constitution while manipulating internal levers.
The new rule in American politics is that no one can make it to the White House without the Hispanic vote.
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