When does the political party with the smaller number of representatives get to be in charge in our political system?

Wednesday, Democrats in the Pennsylvania legislature decided to take over despite the fact that they not only do not have a majority — yet — but definitely remain the smaller party in the House based on the resignations of two of their members.

Not only that, but the (still a) minority party, demonstrating complete disregard for democracy, apparently decided to do this in secret so that neither the public nor the representatives of half the state’s voters had a say.

This lack of transparency shouldn’t be a surprise; it’s just another page torn from the same play book used by Gov. Tom Wolf during the pandemic.

Acting like impertinent children is not how representative government is supposed to work. Nor is conducting what Speaker of the House — that is, the real speaker, at least for now — Bryan Cutler called a “paper insurrection.”

Apparently, failing to work within the rules is only bad when Republicans are involved.

“Democrats are creating internal confusion by simultaneously speciously alleging they have a fake, gerrymandered majority that has the authority to conduct the business of the House,” Cutler said.

It’s possible — perhaps fair to say probable — that the Democrats will have a majority, and this control, of the state House sometime in 2023. It’s true that voters elected enough Democrats to maintain a one-vote edge in November.

But one of those elected died prior to being “returned” to office; two others resigned Wednesday as they were simultaneously elected to higher office.

With those three votes off the floor, anyone who can do grade school math can clearly see that the party that benefited from redrawn districts designed to put more Democrats in the House — again, good when they do it, bad when the GOP does — is still the minority party.

Worse yet, the Dems seem to have the support of the Wolf administration in this unconstitutional takeover — acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman ruled that Cutler could not schedule a special election to fill one of the three open seats, but the pretend Speaker, Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, could do so. For the same date.

Cutler was correct when he called it an “illegal and unprecedented power grab” based on a specious claim to the majority. McClinton has no right to declare herself the leader of the legislative body before January, and even then she may not have enough support since her party will not have a majority of members when the House reconvenes.

This illegitimate power grab shows what we can expect from the Democratic “leadership” as we move forward, apparently overlooking Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro’s promise to focus on cooperation rather than contention (not to mention the fact that the state Senate maintains a Republican majority).

“Rep. McClinton’s actions are an affront to our democratic institutions and issuing a competing Writ of Election has created electoral chaos that ultimately shows they do not believe elections matter and every vote really does count,” Cutler said in a statement.

We agree.