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As Democrats across the nation try to regroup from Novembers stunning losses, they take comfort in the realization in two years and if not in four the country will discover the errors of its vote and restore them to political power.

I doubt it. In fact, they may have to accept the fact they face at least a decade of minority electoral status if not longer.

This is true because while the Republican Congress, Republican-controlled states and the president move quickly to deliver a conservative legislative agenda, they will move just as swiftly to ensure Democrats face restrictions in the tools they use to organize and campaign.

For example, it is a fundamental principle of public voting the more affluent an individual is, the more likely it is that person will vote. Why not make it harder for less wealthy people to vote by, for example, shortening the time to vote, making it more difficult to register to vote, providing fewer voting sites in Democratic-leaning areas and requiring fees to obtain a proper ID to vote. Congress may act on these and other proposals. Some states already have, and Iowa is getting ready to follow suit.

Secondly, look for attacks on labor unions both public and private. Unions have, historically, been a source of both financial support and workers for campaigns. You can expect the National Labor Relations Board to make it far more difficult to form a union and far easier to decertify existing ones. Unions representing public employees will see their power to bargain for benefits reduced or removed. You need look no further than Wisconsin or to our Legislature in Des Moines to see this happening. If the union is powerless, so the reasoning goes, why would workers bother to join?

You can remove effective political opposition to existing government policies if you can destroy the sources of reliable information by discrediting them. Hence, the tendency of conservative groups to attack any criticism of their policies by simply shouting fake news. Expect further attempts to defame mainstream media.

State legislatures will continue to carve congressional and legislative districts so Democrats are limited in the seats they can realistically expect to win. In fact, it is a fair assumption that, contrary to historical patterns, the GOP will increase its numbers in both houses of Congress in 2018.

Finally, you can expect not to see the type of Congressional oversight and investigations both the Clinton and Obama administrations experienced. No Benghazi or e-mail scandals in the coming era. After all, you do not investigate the flaws of your own.

All this brings us to Sisyphus, the tragic figure of Greek mythology, who died and was sent to Hades. Pleading with the Gods, he convinced them he should be allowed to return to life, briefly, to attend to unfinished business. When completed, he failed to keep his promise. Albert Camus wrote that when Sisyphus had tasted again the warm sun on the sand, the sea and the stone, he no longer wished to return to the world of darkness.

The Gods were angry, captured him and returned him to the underworld. His punishment was to be sentenced for all eternity to push a very large bolder up a steep mountain. Each time he reached near the summit, the weight of the stone would overwhelm him and go crashing back to valley below.

Democrats lost this election on a massive scale. The gods of politics have decreed they should stand alongside our ancient Greek friend and undertake a task they cannot accomplish.

The followers of the donkey must understand, the next few elections will not be rigged. All ballots will be counted, but the playing field will be tilted and they are on the lower end.

But unlike the Greek gods of old, all political parties have a fatal flaw. They overreach, and when they do the boulder reaches the mountaintop. But it is going to take a decade or more to happen.

Dave Nagle is a Waterloo attorney and former U.S. representative.

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Democrats must prepare to share fate of Sisyphus - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier