Here’s the problem. Progressives believe power—that is the government—is the center of life. We don’t. They place more faith in government than we do. They want to make it easier, more “efficient,” to grow the government. So making it easier for government to act when Republicans are in the majority might have consequences we will regret when we are next in the minority.

Consider the three most consequential moments in the growth of federal power in the past century—the 1930s New Deal, the mid-1960s Great Society programs, and the first two years of this administration that brought us, among other things, ObamaCare. All occurred when Democrats had the White House, a majority in Congress and, crucially, supermajorities in the Senate. They could act unimpeded by a Republican minority.

If Republicans eliminate the Senate’s supermajority requirements to pass bills in the name of efficiency, it will guarantee that every time Democrats have the presidency and even a bare majority in both houses of Congress, they will party like it’s 1936, 1965 and 2009. They will grow government, and there will be nothing conservatives can do about it.