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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublican destructiveness, and why it’s so effective
But at the end of the day, the real problem with this country is that one of our political parties not only doesn't give a shit about the stability of this country, and in fact has powerful incentives to dismantle it. It's both an ideological thing---stability is dependent on more equality, which they oppose above all other things---but it's also a political thing, which they've come to realize. Republicans have been kept in check in the past by fear that if they destroy this country, they have to pay a major price for it. But it seems what they've learned from the Bush debacle is that if they destroy this country, all they have to do is make sure the Democrats can't fix it properly, and then they can blame the Democrats and return to power to deliver more destruction. There's no incentive to behave, and many incentives to tear shit up.
This strikes me as a problem that can't be fixed with gumption or policy reform. Campaign finance reform can only go so far, because Republicans just need to hold on to enough seats to be obstructionist when they're out of power to make the system work. And those seats they get because the voters have powerful fears regarding women's power and people of color making gains. The rest just works itself out. The only thing I see fixing all this is for the country itself to change enough that people stop voting for Republicans in sufficient numbers. Which may happen naturally, as demographic changes make the country more liberal, but I don't know that it can be fixed with the usual reformist approach.
Still, the nice thing about politics is there's always some chaos afoot. For instance, Republicans put all this effort into creating the perfect situation for getting the country to blame Obama for their problems, and voting for the generic Republican candidate. And then they nominated a robot who scares people. Not a slick move, though I suppose we watched months of them trying to to bargain their way out of it. By no means am I saying this is over; I think Obama's campaign skills are formidable. But the long term situation is scary, since the dynamic isn't going to change. It's only going to be changed when the voters stop falling for the bait-and-switch.
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izquierdista
(11,689 posts)Democrats have had to pay a major price for fixing this country. What they learned from the Johnson debacle is that if they fix the Civil Rights situation in this country, ignorant crackers will still turn on them 50 years later. There's no incentive to fix the country, because they will get voted out of office for someone who promises to tear shit up.
Bandit
(21,475 posts)Democrats actually CARE about this country... Republicans on the other hand don't care one whit...That was the whole concept of the article...
izquierdista
(11,689 posts)Proud Liberal Dem
(24,433 posts)We saw this with Clinton in 1990's. He ended up taking a lot of heat over his economic policies, which lead to the "Gingrich (de-)volution" and we are seeing the same thing with President Obama now with his economic and health care policies that lead to the rise of the Tea Party and the GOP Tea Party takeover of the House last year. Thomas Franks' ("What's the Matter w/Kansas" moniker of "The Wrecking Crew" to describe the GOP is totally accurate IMHO (his book of the same title is a great read BTW)
EC
(12,287 posts)is to STOP THE LIEING TO THE PUBLIC. There should be some kind of penalty for lieing. Maybe the Fairness Act again...but I'd like to see something like in England where there are actual fines and jail time.