Republicans are regimented. Democrats are undisciplined. Just look at the shutdown | Robert Reich

Chuck Schumer failed to hold his senators together at a time when their unity and tenacity were essential. And at a time when they were winner: Most of the public blamed Republicans for the shutdown, and pressure increased to reopen the government (flight delays increased).

Does this mean Schumer should leave? Yes.

But the problem goes deeper. There is a fundamental asymmetry at the heart of American politics. The Democrats are undisciplined. The Republicans are regimented.

For as long as I can remember, Democrats have danced to their own music while Republicans marched to one drummer.

That was the story of 1994, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, but Bill Clinton couldn’t convince the Democratic Senate to accept his health care plan, on which Clinton spent almost all of his political capital.

And again in 2002, when most Democratic senators voted for George W. Bush’s resolution advocating the use of military force against Iraq.

This happened under Joe Biden, when Democrats again controlled both chambers, but Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema blocked Biden’s agenda.

And now, with Senate Democrats finally having some negotiating power to force Republicans to restore expiring health care subsidies, which could send insurance prices skyrocketing for millions of Americans next year, what’s happening? They give in.

I don’t want to generalize too much. Of course, Democrats have been disciplined at times while Republicans have fought hard.

But overall — and even before Trump — Democrats have tended to give in or fall apart when the going gets tough, and Republicans have held their ground.

For what? Due to a psycho-structural difference between the two parties.

Democrats pride themselves on having a “big tent” housing all sorts of conflicting viewpoints.

Republicans pride themselves on having strong leaders.

People who run for office as Democrats are, as a rule, more tolerant of dissent than those who run for office as Republicans.

Today’s Democrats believe in diversity, E Pluribus. Republicans believe in unity, Unum.

Research by linguist George Lakoff has shown that Democrats represent the nurturing mother in our brains: accepting, embracing, empathetic. Republicans represent the strict father: controlling, disciplining, limiting.

This asymmetry helps explain why the Democratic “brand” has been weak compared to the Republican brand, why Democrats often seem spineless while Republicans seem adamant, and why the Democratic message is often vague while the Republican message is generally sharper.

Even during the shutdown, when Democrats pushed for legislation that would cut health care costs next year, polls showed voters still favored Republicans on the economy and cost of living. For what? Because the Democratic message was so muddled.

By this I do not mean a criticism or justification of the Democrats. I offer this as an explanation.

As the United States becomes increasingly unequal and divisive, people who identify as Democrats tend to place a high value on the principles of democracy, in my experience: equal political rights, equal opportunity, and the rule of law. This is undoubtedly a good thing.

People who identify as Trump Republicans tend to place a high value on the tenets of authoritarianism: order, control, and patriarchy. In fact, Trump’s authoritarianism is the logical outcome of modern Republicanism.

The majority of the current Supreme Court, composed of Republican representatives, sides with order, control and patriarchy – which they justify by the constitutional fiction of a “unified executive” – rather than equal political rights, equality of opportunity and the rule of law.

None of this gets Chuck Schumer off the hook. He failed to keep Senate Democrats on course at a critical time. And nothing I’ve said exonerates the seven Democratic senators and one independent who broke ranks to join the Republicans.

The lesson here is not that Democrats should become more authoritarian, especially now, when Trump’s Republicans threaten the fundamental principles of American democracy.

The real lesson is that when we – the voters who support Democrats in Congress – want them to stand their ground, we must force let them hold on.

Republican voters can pretty much assume that their senators and representatives will be united and tough, because that’s what Republicans want. TO DO: they march towards the same drummer (who sits these days in the Oval Office).

But Democrats cannot and should not make this assumption. When we want our senators and representatives to be united and firm, we must let them know unequivocally that we to wait for let them be united and tough. We must request he.

And if they don’t, we must hold them accountable.

• Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor emeritus of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a columnist for the Guardian US and his newsletter is available at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is available now