As far as I can tell, there is a significant minority of the people in this country who really do believe that there Ain't Supposed to be No Guv'mint and are convinced that the government does nothing at all but take money away from them. They don't understand any of the things tht are done by government. I partially blame our education system, wherein to save money, we cut classes in civics, so people grow up with no idea how how the country actually works. They think that things "just happen."
But putting that aside, I am hoping that the Republicans splinter enough to get the government back in business. The way the Republicans are rolling, it's as though they really want to destroy their own party, or rather than a very loud portion of the party believes the don't-need-no-guv'mint line seriously and are trying to implement it. Every time they lose, they declare it's because they're not extreme enough. Push thing far enough and you get situations like in California where the Republicans have imploded so badly that the Democrats have super-majorities in both houses of the legislature and the governorship, so they can pretty much do as they wish.
I used to believe that "divided" government wasn't so bad, but that was when both major parties were actually willing to negotiate and horse-trade so you ended up with moderation in all thing. Now I think the best thing that could happen would be for the current version of the Republican party to destroy itself in a race to see who can be the craziest, leading to a series of Democratic majorities in the Congress (preferably at least 60 seats in the Senate). But one-party rule is bad, too, so I would expect eventually the more conservative Democrats (they do exist) would eventually find themselves in a new conservative party or possibly the Republicans could come back and join the real world rather than their paranoid fantasy-land.
There are also some procedural changes that have got to get done: the House Speaker's power to prevent anything he doesn't want to come to a vote needs to be trimmed back. The idea that an absolute majority of the House (albeit a majority of the majority party) can block everything forever is stupid. Also, the Senate is going to need to do something about the debate limit rule; possibly drop cloture to 55 votes or force people to do real talking filibusters, not the pretend ones they're doing now.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-10-03 05:58 pm (UTC)But putting that aside, I am hoping that the Republicans splinter enough to get the government back in business. The way the Republicans are rolling, it's as though they really want to destroy their own party, or rather than a very loud portion of the party believes the don't-need-no-guv'mint line seriously and are trying to implement it. Every time they lose, they declare it's because they're not extreme enough. Push thing far enough and you get situations like in California where the Republicans have imploded so badly that the Democrats have super-majorities in both houses of the legislature and the governorship, so they can pretty much do as they wish.
I used to believe that "divided" government wasn't so bad, but that was when both major parties were actually willing to negotiate and horse-trade so you ended up with moderation in all thing. Now I think the best thing that could happen would be for the current version of the Republican party to destroy itself in a race to see who can be the craziest, leading to a series of Democratic majorities in the Congress (preferably at least 60 seats in the Senate). But one-party rule is bad, too, so I would expect eventually the more conservative Democrats (they do exist) would eventually find themselves in a new conservative party or possibly the Republicans could come back and join the real world rather than their paranoid fantasy-land.
There are also some procedural changes that have got to get done: the House Speaker's power to prevent anything he doesn't want to come to a vote needs to be trimmed back. The idea that an absolute majority of the House (albeit a majority of the majority party) can block everything forever is stupid. Also, the Senate is going to need to do something about the debate limit rule; possibly drop cloture to 55 votes or force people to do real talking filibusters, not the pretend ones they're doing now.