Politics & Power Quote by Jack Kingston

Kingston’s line accidentally captures the central paradox of modern majority politics: winning is easy; governing is the part that ruins the high. The opening flex - “we are Republicans. We are the majority” - reads like a locker-room chant, a reminder to his own side that power is real and possession matters. But the sentence immediately swerves into a confession: power comes with an invoice. “It is going to be a little more difficult” is the kind of understatement politicians use when they don’t want to say “we’re not ready.”

The key tell is the word “because.” Kingston isn’t blaming Democrats, the media, or a hostile culture. He’s blaming the job. Majorities can thrive on opposition energy: unified messaging, symbolic votes, clean villains. A governing majority has to do something harder and less viral - build coalitions, accept tradeoffs, take responsibility for messy outcomes. “We have to govern and come up with ideas” sounds banal until you hear the subtext: the party’s identity has been shaped as much by resistance as by policy imagination, and now the spotlight is unforgiving.

Contextually, it’s the kind of remark that surfaces when a party transitions from campaigning to legislating, especially after waves driven by anger at Washington. Kingston’s intent is pep talk plus warning: don’t mistake headcount for competence. The line works because it reveals what politicians rarely admit on camera - that being the majority doesn’t just grant permission; it removes excuses.