Too late to deal with the sociopathology of the Republican party? [View all]

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/11287-focus-failure-of-the-avignon-presidency

The time to talk about the sheer sociopathic disregard for political norms illustrated by the new Republican majority elected to the House in 2010 was in 2009, when that disregard was on display at rallies, and in the disruption of town hall meetings, and when the manic energy that has forced the Republican party to abandon reason was at its highest levels. The time to talk - nay, holler - about the disinclination of the opposition to do the business of the people was every damn time they refused to do it. The time to do all of this effectively, alas, has passed.

There was too much conciliation, too much presumed good faith, a continuation of the haughty disdain for what raw, bloody partisan politics can achieve that we saw in the last campaign. There was too much reaching out, too much pre-emptive compromise, too much thumb-sucking about the "shellacking" in 2010, and not enough of grasping the American people by the shoulders and shaking them, saying, "Do you see what you've done? Allen Fking West?" There has been a lot of argument over the past three years about the limitation of the "bully pulpit" given the nature of the way things work in our government, and most of it is valid. But there is an educational component to the presidency, too, and part of that component is to remind the people that extended tantrums are not self-government, that electing the unqualified and the half-bright simply because they say the things that you also hear on your radio for 12 hours a day is not a recipe for moving the country forward. The partnership in government didn't "break down." The Republicans broke it and then walked away from the splinters. Period. There was nowhere near enough of that kind of talk over the past three years.