Yes as for as policy. I see Representatives like AOC and Katie Porter really doing the work that they were sent to do. While watching other Republicans -Gaetz make grand soap opera performances every time they can get the mike.
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But truly, I see this as a reflection of the constituents that voted for them. They fit the definition of a “leader” as the guy that runs out in front of a mob.
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Then they are mistaken, or poorly raised. Take your pick. Hell even Hollywood wouldn’t make a bio pic of one of these jackasses, because they don’t have what it takes to be the hero.
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I would simplify the above argument. When I talk to any conservative they love to tell me how much they hate, Hate HATE ! the government. They hate the IRS, they hate the Federal Reserve, they hate environmental laws etc etc ad nauseam. They hate government soooooo much I always ask: “Are you an anarchist?” That’s right! The anarchists are not the Black Lives Matter folks fighting with the police on our streets- the anarchists are modern Republicans who aren’t shy about telling us how much they hate government. What we are seeing with the current administration how anarchists behave when they are given the hated government to run. They begin to dismantle everything leaving only the shell.
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It’s an interesting article, taking in depth a subject I have been talking about for years i.e. the GOP Coc…Republicans have become enthralled by the Politics of Resentment because it’s great for winning elections. However, when it comes to actually GOVERNING it’s worthless. When you practice it you end up with megalomaniacs, who are completely useless when it comes to getting things done and encourage the hypocrites in American society .
Take South Dakota for example. SD is stuffed full of people who claim to hate abortion under any circumstances. It’s so bad, that a very restrictive anti-abortion plank or bill (I can’t recall which. This WAS a few years ago. ) was about to become law or get on the legislative agenda when suddenly you had all these anti-abortion GOP Coc…Republicans suddenly going, “Whoa…wait a minute. I hate abortion and everything but it’s nice to have it there. JUST IN CASE.”
That ‘just in case’ was not really spoken but it was implied as a reason for the opposition. And to the average voter, that phrase meant " my daughter" or “my mistress” or "my legislative assistant, " or “me, me me.” The backtracking was breathtaking. And that’s just one example of hypocrisy in action.
There is a strong belief in this country that the government has turned into ‘every man for himself and only whatever you can grab has any permanence.’ The Politics of Resentment will not slow this notion
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And yet, our news media and op/ed writers still think that today’s Republican Party and Democratic Party are just the same, and the only problem that prevents “getting things done” is that Democrats don’t compromise enough. Or worse, that Democrats - Democrats! - are “obstructionist.” They lay this on thick with the currently fashionable and mandatory “both siderism”. If Donald Trump calls for armed insurrection and instructs his followers to shoot anybody they disagree with, then it’s equally bad that Joe Biden sometimes uses archaic words.
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Excellent article/excerpt. Kudos to Benen and TPM.
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This is actually our fault. We Democrats sat on our butts during the 2010 elections that elected Republicans who then proceeded to gerrymander several states and derail Obama’s agenda. So why would ANYONE vote for a Republican in the first place?
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My pinned tweet for months:
Liberals will win elections and govern, but have no intention of wielding power
GOPers will win elections and wield power, but have no intention of governing
The Left will wield power and govern, but have no intention of winning
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Republicans have one simple policy aside from winning the next election. Cutting taxes on the rich. It’s why they don’t want or need to rid of the filibuster, because with “reconciliation” they can cut taxes and bankrupt the government with just a bare majority.
The GOP does want to keep the filibuster, to stop Democrats. The filibuster is the key to blocking the Democrats from passing truly progressive policy that would help the average citizen, an accomplishment that would be an absolute anathema to the Republicans. A Party whose propaganda is that government must be feared and hated, and “drown in a bathtub”.
President Obama started off with the wrong assumptions. He ought to have understood from day one that Republicans would oppose everything, even their own ideas. Harry Reid could have eliminated the filibuster and gotten a lot done. Then in 2010 the Dems might have kept control of the House.
Going forward, Dems are going to have to dominate. They can do it if they ditch their corporate donors and embrace popular policies like Medicare for All and a living wage.
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Voter suppression (which they’ve actually got a basketful of tools for), gerrymandering, and a very good machine for turning out voters who will vote GOP if they vote.
They’ve really got quite a toolbox.
Also, while they may have failed to turn Obama into a one-term President, they had him all but handcuffed during that second term.
Mitch & Co. are evil, but don’t underestimate how adept they are at being evil. That would be a mistake.
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Republicans have one simple policy aside from winning the next election. Cutting taxes on the rich.
Can’t forget getting judges and Justices who will rule against any existing laws that interfere with corporate dominance relative to workers, consumers, and citizens generally.
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The GOP’s problem was that Obama stole their health insurance plan because he was afraid of or not interested in Medicare for All. That left them empty handed. “Repeal and replace” … with WHAT?
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One overlooked thing that’s happened during the past 25 years, which has everything to do with Benen’s theme here, is that Democrats have become the more successful party in the very areas of policy where the GOP always used to be dominant, and even the media assume they still are.
I’m talking about defense, national security, the economy, deficit reduction - all the “Daddy Party” issues. Both the GWB and Trump Administrations have sucked at all of these, while Clinton and Obama handled situations in these areas quite well.
The Dems need to trumpet this: they’re now the Mommy Party and the Daddy Party, while the GOP is the “Drunken Boyfriend Who Will Lose His Apartment, Move In With You, and Spend All Your Money” Party. And give you a social disease to boot.
They’re not even the “pro-life” party anymore, as they’re quite happy to go along with a President who does nothing about thousands of coronavirus deaths each week. They’re objectively pro-death, and their stance on this issue has demonstrated beyond any doubt that their supposed devotion to ‘life’ is just a political cudgel, nothing more.
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It started before that with Reagan and the way he put ideologues in charge of every domestic Federal agency such as James Watt, Ed Meese, David Stockman, and Ann Gorsuch and gave us things like “Catsup is a vegetable”
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They have two objectives not one: Tax cuts and deregulation. A large part of the opposition to the ACA from the business community was really a combination of those two ideas. Environmental deregulation. Banking deregulation. Consumer protection deregulation. Worker safety deregulation. Labor deregulation. And so forth.
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This article is the ultimate indictment of the RepubliKKKlan Party.
The RepubliKKKlan Party must die and be replaced by a moderate Conservative party anchored in reality.
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Going forward the Dems need to excise all remaining vestiges of the Clinton’s DLC RepubliKKKan light operatives. HRC, DW-S and their ilk can go find jobs working for corporate think tanks.
Biden will have something like 100 days to get new worker-oriented policies under way. If it turns out that McConnell is minority leader, and not bodily deposed, then we’ll need to eliminate filibuster and ram a new New Deal right through his nether regions.
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It’s actually been going on for much longer than that. The whole plan of the right wing to make the government something that only enriched and protected to wealthy and corporations goes all the way back to FDR and the New Deal.
Read the books Democracy in Chains and One Nation Under God if you want to know how they’ve been working behind the scenes to make the nation from one where the government works for all to one that works for very few.
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