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Carmen Colborne's avatar

Andrew’s Comment on serious people finding serious solutions reminds me of a discussion I had some time ago with an old law school colleague. She had gone into environmental legal work and we were both presenting to a regulatory body. In a quiet moment I asked her why she and I couldn’t just sit down and figure out the best answer for the issue and the parties. She chuckled and said, as an advocacy organization, it was not in their interest to find solutions. They existed only because they had fights to fight. They were funded by donations from people and orgs who wanted them to win, not to come up with solutions. Suddenly it (the old fight of environment vs business) all made sense to me. Understanding the Republican Party as an advocacy group for secular and religious corporate interests will help Andrew understand why there are no serious efforts on their side to find serious solutions.

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Mike S's avatar

Exactly. It's all about advocating for positions, for various interests as well as for constituents who share (or believe they share) those interests. Problem-solving and compromise are in conflict with those interests, especially with increasingly polarized, gerrymandered districts.

Not unlike prosecutors vs defense attorney, or litigants in a legal action - except lawyers are bound by rules of law and evidence, while politicians have no comparable bounds.

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Roderick's avatar

Kind of like how the War on Drugs will never end because it would require laying off millions of law enforcement in this country, and no politician has the guts or appetite to admit it means "defunding the police" and killing the privatized prison system's golden goo$e.

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Hobie van Huson's avatar

That's a damn good argument, Carmen.

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