The Blue-Dog Democrats are a coalition of fiscal conservatives in the United States House of Representatives who advocate, among other things, a balanced federal budget and paying down the nation’s debt. Since the group’s inception in 1995, its positions on many issues have bridged the gap between the more ideologically extreme positions held by leaders of the two major political parties. When trying to understand the intersection of political science and other social sciences, the rise of Blue-Dog Democrats is significant because it suggests the value of embracing a collective ideology to differentiate oneself for political purposes. What follows is a brief history of the Blue-Dog Coalition, a discussion of some of their early successes, and a narrative that elaborates some of the challenges the ...