Yeah I don’t expect Dems to mess around on certain things. A lot in the party are mad from things like not hearing Garland then turning around and rushing one in when RGB died. The Trump tax cut didn’t really have much bipartisan input or any if I recall.
It is what it is at this point. The precedent has been set for getting everything in that you can while you can. Not saying it’s a good thing by any means, but think it’s the new normal. Obstruction has been the name of the game for the minority party (Dems or Republicans). So while you don’t have to deal with that it’s going to be ram through I believe.
Absolutely. I don’t like the 50% + 1 rule. This is exactly the reason I was against Reid invoking the nuclear option in 2013 and against McConnell doing it for SCOTUS nominations in 2017.
We need more bipartisan cooperation not less. And if they can’t stomach that, then vote the suckers out.
I’d like to say I agree, but the Constitution didn’t foresee gerrymandering. As we know, that is a practice that has allowed particular parties to stay locked in at certain levels of government. This is one reason I am so against violating norms in government processes - the Constitution is a safeguard but only against the most egregious violations.
One could argue that gerrymandering has no federal scope since it is state districts concerned and I’d agree insofar as federal action for a state problem. However I think it is a handy illustration.
Very true. I agree that it’s a deeper cultural issue as well and not simply public education. Cultural rot really. However the proliferation of public schools reinforce and exacerbate the decay.
Unfortunately our constitution has been amended several times for the worse and a big one we see now is the 17th. A lot of the procedural crap would be irrelevant if the state’s still chose their senators. The House is the people’s chamber that should flip and change according to their will. The Senate was meant to be much slower to change. The state’s lost their representation and you see in modern elections how Senate races are influenced by the nation as a whole. A case where more democracy became less freedom.
Which is EXACTLY why the norms need to be respected.
Not usually my preferred source for political insights, but by happy coincidence I ran into this article a while back and find it relevant. Our government is a unique experience, so finding exact matches in history is impossible. However the parallels are interesting and concerning. Also @thunderbolt23 in case you’re interested in reading it.
I don’t disagree, but feel they won’t be. Like I said the moves away from some of that have already been made in years past. And they were bad moves because of the fact that once one side does them both feel it’s fair game. Or use it as justification for ignoring something else.
Democrats were powerless to stop Republicans from not even hearing about a Supreme Court justice when Obama had a year left (or more) can’t remember the exact time. And they were powerless when Republicans jammed one through weeks before an election. Which if you’re a Republican fan you think both moves are smart and make sense. But you’ve also sent a signal that historical expectations are out the door.
Those norms need to be respected sure, but when they haven’t been in recent history? Chances are low IMO. Which is why Trump’s BS with the election fraud matters. The precedent is absolutely there now for Dems (or Republicans in the future) to ignore what happened, declare victory with less votes, and try to use the power of incumbency or other measures to circumvent elections.
Should be respected? Yep? Will be? Not anytime soon I wouldn’t think.
I might look into that book. It should delve into the good leaders gone bad theme, as doing more damage that dictators. Counterintuitive at first mention.
I would argue the founders of the United States knew that all good governments go bad. Thats why they championed a small federal government with a narriwly defined role. That way success or failure isn’t dependent on the state but the people. A moral people become more important than the “moral leader.”
No argument from me on that point. I encourage you to read the article if you haven’t though, as it’s not so much about the leader’s quality so much as the norms of the government and culture being violated.
If all governments go bad then this gives us a clue as to when they seem to slip permanently or semi-permanently.
And it continues with the obnoxious executive orders. Trump signed close to as many in one term than Obama signed in two (and the GOP complained about it then, then during Trump Dems complained and now back to the GOP saying they are bad after cheering them). And a lot of EO’s off the bat are just getting rid of previous presidents ones. Biden’s giving himself carpal tunnel signing them.
We aren’t far from a scenario where the first 100 days of a Presidents term are executive orders undoing the executive orders of a previous President because so many exist.
“The country wasn’t based on executive orders,” Trump said at a South Carolina campaign stop in February 2016. “Right now, Obama goes around signing executive orders. He can’t even get along with the Democrats, and he goes around signing all these executive orders. It’s a basic disaster. You can’t do it.”
But I guess surprisingly (because I wasn’t aware) levels are lower than they used to be. Doesn’t mean I like it any. But given the typical hypocrisy of both sides on the issue I fear it will just grow and grow.
Californiagrown pointed some of them out above. The biggest fear is leeching radiation from whatever tanks/area they are disposed of in into the surrounding areas. Radiation poisoning the land is known. Folks around the Chernobyl area are still seeing affects.
I think there are better controls in place now to prevent something that bad, but we do not know long term impacts of radiation leakage yet. My argument is that in the short term, it provides a quicker way to get off fossil fuel for building power generation.
The Fukishima plant is still in a state of meltdown and requires fresh water be pumped over the molten core constantly to prevent an out of control reaction and full meltdown. They have no plans or ideas on how to stop the meltdown… just keep pumping water to cool it. And keep building new giant tanks to store this highly radioactive water in one of the most earthquake prone areas in the world. It’s a remarkable feat of propaganda that the world doesnt truly understand how bad the fukishima situation was and still is.
If we could figure out a way to nuetralize the radiation, or harvest the radiation for a useful purpose through some reaction nuclear would be a true gamechanger. And honestly, it is still fairly safe in the short term, even taking into account the accidents. Its the long term effects that are worrisome… especially as all the radioactive waste starts to accumulate over the decades.
I dont think anyone seriously disagrees that nuclear in the short term is a much better answer than fossil fuels. But going with nuclear is betting the next 200,000 years as collateral, with zero idea of how to win the bet, just a hope that we will “figure it out” in short order.