whenever this happens… it needs to settle out and actually see how flippers vote on legislation ……
but any number that moves the caucus toward control is a good thing —
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Yeah. We added 11 Democratic reps and 5 Democratic senators to the Texas leg in the midterms. That’s enough to give them headaches even if it’s not enough to give us control.
It’s a movement in that direction however.
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Just read it.
Let me suggest Good and Mad", by Rebecca Traister. I’m going with Traister, it is far more comprehensive, a book, and far more complex. She is a good writer and worth the read.
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OT- great avatar!
“Not quite the spirited playfulness of the Halloween show, but a quiet, celebratory look at our existence.”
-The Squirreltown Journal-Gazette-Inquirer-Tribune.
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That made me look at it. That is great.
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A little pissy bout’ the electric bill ….
but it’s turning out to be a Happy Holiday –
So …… what the Hell —
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I really think they do. There’s sort of a default suburban reluctance to want to pay for “other people’s problems” while at the same time demanding that “other people” pay for infrastructure to make their lives easier. Education, however, is one area where suburbanites start to get that glimmer of understanding that you get what you pay for. You can’t buy or sell a house without that view being battered over your head by the real estate industry. Health care is another. They want good schools and good doctors and hospitals that aren’t an hour’s drive away. But it’s really an educational issue, cutting through the anti-tax, anti-public infrastructure, anti-government propaganda that has been fed to them for decades. In the end, they want dependability - and that means schools and healthcare and government greasing the wheels of the local economy.
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The problem is they want to be in charge, which they wouldn’t be.
It only took 14 plus years for voters in Kansas to come to their senses and begin the process of voting in their own best interests.
Maybe rural conservatives across the country will wake up and realize it’s not about guns, abortions, and immigrants. It’s about social and financial security and a political discourse that favors the future.
We can only hope the legacy of the current republican party will be to show how their policies failed. If anyone tries to tell you Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are leaders, just ;point to the mess we are in and ask them to provide details.
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When people in the bread basket of America are beginning to realize the Koch Brothers and the US Oligarchy and their Republican Party have been exploiting them and feeding them bull shit and lies on supply side economics and “freedom” and “family values” and “guns” and “patriotism” while their lives and the future for their children is crumbling, then maybe just maybe America can be saved. The battle is long from over…the Koch nazis and their mob will not go down easily…they believe it white Oligarchy rule and short of sending them back to Austria, they will have to be neutralized which means laws, regulations, and finally getting them to pay taxes and serve in the military.
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“Former” is the only proper descriptive for “centrist Republicans.” They are either former centrists or former Republicans.
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More of this, please. How about in other states?
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The Tea Party faction sure were in charge for a while. And then they ceased to be a faction, and basically ate the party whole.
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We will not get the buk of Republicans. We don’t need to. But there are decent people that see the world through a more conservative lens, and they are not at all happy with what is happening. We need to make sure we stay a big tent. This kind of move is not easy, but if people can demonstrate that the move can be made even if not embracing everything the DNC stands for and gradually changing ground on issues, then many more will be less afraid to jump. Having moderates in both parties is what makes governing possible and affective. The GOP has given up on moderates so it’s up to the Democrats to give them a home.
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They still have to use the Republican bathrooms in Kansas. You have identify with your birth party for toileting.
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This is the main problem: the GOP has become gutless. The reason the Tea Party took over was because the GOP didn’t catch itself, put down its foot, and say "fuck off.’ They rolled over like a bunch of cowards because they were afraid of losing majorities. They wanted to be in charge immediately instead of saying “y’know what, we should probably accept losses, reform, and cordon off the lunatic fringe so it devours itself.” The reason they didn’t pick the latter is because it would have taken years and basically throwing several election cycles to rebuild and they couldn’t stand that idea.
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Actually, it does change things. Especially with a Dem governor. And 3-4 flips in the Senate means a veto would stand. And that doesn’t even count the moderate Republicans in the Mainstream Coaltion, who won’t change parties but are still anti-extremism.
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I guess I have a slightly more cynical take – I think white suburbanites would balk at anything that smacks of promoting equality, that robs their children of their privileged status – but I think it all leads to the same place, policy-wise, with a slightly different sales pitch. Education is probably really where it all comes to a head, just as it is in the big city. But if anything, most suburbs are more dependent on public K-12 education, not less. They need to make their systems work for all kids in order for them to work for their kids.
The crazy thing is many of the values they really care about: religious freedom, moral values, family centric society, etc. have no real relationship to the issues the GOP actually pushes: Tax breaks, deregulation, anti-immigration, anti-global warming, etc. They have become associated with the strongly held values of religion, morality, patriotism, and family only through a crafty decades long propaganda campaign. As they wake up to this reality they may be slower on social issues, but even there as cited by these women, they are often not comfortable with the extremes their party uses to attract part of their base. What they need to see is that many on the Democratic side (Obama, Carter, Pelosi, Warren) share most or all of their religious values and are able to do so while rejecting all the other baggage the GOP has tried to tie to their deeply held beliefs.
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The Republicans lost their super majorities in the NC House and Senate also. These are small steps but progress nonetheless.
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