If you’ve been watching “House of Cards” on Netflix, you might be misled to believe legislative politics requires sophisticated strategic planning. Alas, this is rarely the case. In most instances, our solons make it up as they move along — playing their cards pretty much when and as they are dealt. If that strikes you as shortsighted, you wouldn’t be wrong. NFL coaches earn millions of dollars for developing winning game plans. Kevin Spacey’s cable television Republican, Frank Underwood, may be a successful Washington schemer, with an unblinking eye on the long game; but this shrewdness is what separates him from his colleagues.

Last November, Colorado Republicans recaptured a Senate majority for the first time in a decade. With three of every four voters telling pollsters they hold Congressional Republicans primarily responsible for Washington’s dysfunction, it was presumed Senate President Bill Cadman would attempt to show his caucus could play well with others. Not only do Colorado Republicans need to retain their Senate majority in 2016, they also have to pick up several more House seats if they hope to seize control of the legislative agenda. “Hard right” bills will never get past House Democrats for the next two years, so there seems to be little payoff in frightening voters away with Tea Party crusades.

Before the session started, it was expected that Senate Republicans would run a half dozen “good government” bills first thing, securing significant Democratic support. Now, don’t be fooled when either party brags about the 80 or 90 percent of legislation approved with bipartisan majorities under their leadership. After all, these claims include the 60 percent of votes for resolutions and memorials, recognizing everything from high school sports victories to National Margarita Day. But still, legitimate olive branches were expected items in the Republican Senate’s agenda.

Nevertheless, for the first time in memory, Republicans have chosen to block funding for budget supplementals, gleefully killed Democratic bills in committee and forwarded “dead-on-arrival” legislation, containing topics that set Democrats’ hair on fire, over to the House.

As Cadman ruefully acknowledged to one Republican lobbyist, “We don’t have to look for people who are angry. They’re having no trouble finding us.” All of which raises the question: Is this Republican obstreperousness part of an, as yet, unappreciated plan.

Senate Minority Leader Morgan Carroll observed that, “For the first few weeks I was worried Republicans were executing some carefully devised plot of evil genius I just couldn’t grasp. Now I’m thinking they simply don’t know what they’re doing. They’ve even been killing each other’s bills.”

Since the introduction of term limits and the decline of party support for candidate campaigns, there has been a constant turnover in leadership, causing legislative caucuses to grow increasingly fractious.

We are unlikely to ever witness the kind of knuckle crunching power that allowed Speaker “Bev” Bledsoe to call in freshmen Republican House members advising them to forget their pet bills and suggesting they carry the pre-drafted statute he slid across the table, assuring them that, “This will pass both Chambers and you can go back home and brag about it.” A newly elected member declined his paternal counsel at considerable peril.

So that leaves us to contemplate the wide-ranging speculation about just what Senate Republicans are really up to. There is the incompetence meme, largely advanced by Democrats. There is the “Bill Cadman faces the same predicament as John Boehner” theory, risking a mutiny if he interferes with free-range Senatorial grazing. There is the “feeding red meat to the base” speculation. Even a “get it out of your system” plan that will be withdrawn later in the session has its supporters. Another construction claims that voters will forget bad behavior exhibited during this first session, much as when Democrats pushed legislative boundaries in 2013, if there is a return to courtesy in 2016. Of course, we know how well that worked out for Democrats this past November.

Whatever they’re up to, on the floor, Senate Republicans have maintained a unified 19-18 majority, either enforcing admirable discipline or evading votes that might splinter their unanimity. The jury is out. In a few months we will have a better feel for whether Cadman has unleashed chaos or set in motion a strategy of some hidden brilliance.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant. He can be reached at mnhwriter@msn.com