Just because a majority in Congress call themselves Dems doesn't mean the GOP isn't the majority.

[Kablooie]

I believe a large proportion of our "Democrats" are closet Republicans.

[RC]

1. And some aren't even in the closet.

They are just mislabeled right wing republicans.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. It's not that simple.

It's not that they're closet Republicans, it's that they're members of a third party without a label. At any given time we have in the US four or five parties, but only two labels. American politics, like all politics, is coalition politics. This country's colalition politics, however, is structured backwards from Europe. In Europe you fight the election, then form the coalition. Here you form the coalition, then fight the election.

It's true that the Democratic 'majority' is not a majority. It's a plurality, of about 40 votes. Beyond that, it splits. And if it's the Blue Dogs today, it won't always be the Blue Dogs splitting. The left can split too -- see the CPC's threats on the public option.

Any coalition large enough to govern will have at least one fault line along which it will split. The bigger the coalition, the more fault lines.