The Republican Party is headed to victory in the November midterm elections, two top political columnists said Wednesday.

Mark Shields of the Washington Post argued that it could be a good thing if the Republicans are successful, noting that the United States has seen the most progress under periods of divided government, citing the Reagan and Clinton administrations.

“We balanced the budget in the last 50 years under one president, and he was a Democratic president named Bill Clinton, and we did it three years in a row,” Shields said.

Shields and David Brooks of the New York Times and PBS NewsHour went on to explain why there’s not as much inter-party civility.

Before technology made it possible to travel, Senators and Representatives were forced to live in Washington and interact with members of the other party.

“Then two things happened: Watergate happened, and Newt Gingrich happened,” Shields said, saying that the two events caused more and more Senators to work out of their home states, traveling back and forth, cutting down time they actually spent with one another outside of Congress.

As a result of the change, citizens are more segregated along party lines. Democrats are moving to areas that are more liberal, and Republicans are moving to more conservative areas, the columnists said.