Word: consensus
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American political life, as I have suggested, can be seen in terms of a few relatively long periods, each dominated by a fairly stable coalition of the interests and factions Madison described--a semipermanent majority with a rough consensus on immediate public questions. Each new coalition finds its instrument in one of the two major political parties. Which one is determined by a complex interaction of traditions and loyalties, leadership and inspiration, strategy and accident. Because that party is identified with a widely accepted view on current issues, it develops a commanding position in the national government...
...response most clear-cut, the electoral majorities of the dominant party may be overwhelming. Although long voting habits may keep many who share the new majority viewpoint within the fold of the opposition party, in the beginning that party is commonly the haven for those who reject the new consensus. The leaders of this group secure control of the party machinery and position it vigorously against the views widely accepted by the majority of citizens, thus consigning it to the role of semipermanent opposition...
Repeated defeat at the polls, however, leads to an intraparty struggle in an effort to bring the minority party position into closer harmony with what is by now clearly identified as the broad majority view. Meanwhile, as the majority party gains the policy objectives of the consensus it loses its momentum and the two parties grow closer together, each ultimately reflecting, though with important differences of attitude and emphasis, the general position of the underlying consensus among the public at large...
...itself, the interruptions tended to become more frequent. As the maturing movement loses its fervor, new personalities may give the minority party temporary advantages; long years in office may lead to a lethargy and lowering of standards in the party which was first to identify itself with the general consensus...
...broad consensus of agreement, he added, is insufficient in respect to questions of foreign policy, where the policy of both the Eisenhower and Truman Administrations, dating from 1947, is losing relevance...