On Murc's Law and the path to Victory

Democratic supporters need to keep top eye for unbalanced expectations

Murc’s Law is the political science construction that posits the following:

Only Democrats (or the Democratic Party) have political agency.

There is a cartoon going around that represents this law well, but in effect the following conditions exist:

1. Something good happens - Why didn’t Democrats do it sooner?

2. Something bad happens - Why didn’t Democrats stop this from happening?

3. Republicans advance a bad policy with superior numbers - Why didn’t Democrats stop the Republicans?

4. Democrats advance a great policy with superior numbers - The Democrats didn’t enact a good enough policy.

5. Democrats win an election - Democrats need to be gracious and reach out to the “other side” (That is, Republicans)

Essentially, Republicans are a force of nature, much like the weather, that must just be worked around. News coverage is often slanted in this way as it is an easy and convenient frame. Take for example a standard political battle over the debt ceiling. Generally, the coverage is framed that Democrats must find a way to compromise; where Republican efforts to take the nation’s debt ceiling hostage are almost entirely absent from the heads or even the upper third of the articles.

Political coverage follows this construction as well, where the brinksmanship and hostage-taking are—at best—referred to deep in the interior of articles, and not as a serious consideration. There accordingly is no widespread condemnation of the obstructionist hostage-takers.

Democrats, meanwhile, are faulted for (presumably) not making great efforts to placate such hostage-takers. Even this framing is a concession afforded to the obstructionists; an assumption that they act in good faith.

Murc’s Law goes even further than this, and this is where I ask you to consider the impact as the critical Harris/Walz campaign marches into the final two-month stretch.

Democrats will face scrutiny over proposals, there will be in fact shouted, demanding questions launched against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, in a manner that they will not be against their reprehensible opponents (President Klan Robe/Shady Vance). Murc’s Law dictates that only Democrats have justification for their policies; simply screaming them into the aether as already existing will not do as it does for the opposing campaign-cum-ethnic cleansing movement.

But crucially, this means there is a need for Democrats to propose achievable policies in spite of the contradictory goal of political campaigns to give soaring, inspiring wishlists. This is because under Murc’s Law, only Democrats are held accountable for promises made during campaigns.

Not only are Democrats the only party held accountable for promises made during campaigns, they are held accountable for promises made by other candidates as well as promises implied by the observers. Take for example, the full cancellation of student debt—this was a hallmark of the Warren and Sanders campaigns. Upon Joe Biden’s successful 2020 campaign these were assumed to have been his positions as well, generating a great deal of negative coverage and anger. (This is where we had a surge in popularity of the phrase “stroke of the pen.”)

Another is Joe Biden’s branding of his campaign as “transitional” (to the next generation). This was widely interpreted as Joe Biden deliberately running for a single term, which would mean he would be an instant lame duck/caretaker President. Accordingly, every time Joe Biden was asked whether he was running for reelection (this itself being goosed by a media-driven forced meme), he indicated that he was running. Nevertheless, this implication resulted in almost contradictory voter anger towards Joe Biden (and solely Joe Biden; his opponent is similarly old and is a convicted felon).

Ultimately—buoyed by deliberately negative media coverage and a singleminded focus on Joe Biden’s age (in lieu of any other substantiated scandals)—Joe Biden had no choice but to drop out of the reelection campaign. Despite the historic accomplishments of the Biden/Harris administration, a record that would be the envy of any administration, he had to hang it up.

But we have a positive way forward because this experienced public servant was able to work behind the scenes…and perhaps take advantage of the predictable framework of Murc’s Law. Masterful moves were made to circumvent the 24-hour news cycle as well as the Sunday Pundit bloviation session, and to roll out the new campaign in newer and more eye-catching ways.

Nevertheless, there are going to be even more crises along the way. Currently there is a great effort to achieve a true ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. However, there are chaos agents (the largest of which is President Klan Robe himself) that wish to sandbag the process, in a manner similar to what happened to Jimmy Carter vis-à-vis the Iran Hostage crisis. Because of the framework of Murc’s Law, these efforts receive relatively little airplay compared to the travails of Hunter Biden. Or Joe Biden’s age.

Those of us who are Democratic supporters have an important job ahead. We have to not only share that Democrats do have great initiatives and are doing the work presently to achieve positive outcomes, but also focus on our mission this fall. And that is to vote up and down the ballot and get rid of the obstructionists from the Republican Party.

It may be surprising to say, but the Democratic message is actually fine. It’s the coverage and dissemination of it that is bad.

The more Democrats we can put into office, the greater leeway we have in Congress. This way we do not have as much of an impact from turncoat or grandstanding members. We all remember the trials and tribulations when dealing with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (often referred to as Manchinenema). But think about the coverage. It was always framed as “Democrats failed.” When the Child Tax Credit was allowed to expire, the news was always framed as the fault of Democrats even though Republicans universally voted against it. Having a greater margin makes this possible.

Lastly I want you all to make sure you check your voter registration. Especially in unreconstructed states, there are many live efforts by Republicans and Republican-backed groups to purge as many voters as possible in service of the Big Lie. This is because your vote is possible. Suppression of votes is how many unreconstructed states remain unreconstructed. So sites like www.vote.org, www.vote.gov, and www.iwillvote.com are incredibly valuable in protecting your right, while you still have them. After all, Project 2025 is designed to remove as many of your rights as possible. And with Murc’s Law as an operating principle…the actual progenitors of it will escape scrutiny and accountability.

Mount up!