I'm kind of surprised that there is no mention of MTG's latest round of antics in ratcheting up the House speakership crisis another notch or two. Then again maybe it has become so routine and so predictable that it no longer bears scrutiny until some actual consequence occurs.
That said, it seems fair to ask anew what business the GOP ma…
I'm kind of surprised that there is no mention of MTG's latest round of antics in ratcheting up the House speakership crisis another notch or two. Then again maybe it has become so routine and so predictable that it no longer bears scrutiny until some actual consequence occurs.
That said, it seems fair to ask anew what business the GOP majority is getting done in this Congress. So I'm asking. And waiting for an answer. And still waiting. It also seems fair to wonder out loud why that is acceptable to so many people on the right, who in years past insisted on action toward our collective benefit and that represents at least some measurable outlay of achievement in exchange for the taxpayer-funded salary, pension funds, and benefits that they receive. Score another one for tribalism: apparently it's okay within the GOP to waste our money doing nothing but pursuing petty grievances and spite, at our expense, as long as they aren't Democrats doing it and block whatever initiatives said Democrats would pursue instead. Ask yourself how long you would have a job if you tried the same thing at your place of employment.
To the extent that winning vital seats in the House and the Senate is a priority for the Democrats, it might be about time that they make this a part of their campaign agenda and not expect us to read between the lines or figure it out for ourselves. It's okay to talk about a do-nothing Congress while playing up the accomplishments of the current administration, largely without their support.
I listen to a British podcast, The Rest is Politics, hosted by two former MPs, to get another view on governing a divided country with similar concerns. They recently raised a very good question: why are there no job descriptions, no prerequisites, for lawmakers in this day and age? We have a few (age, citizenship, nominally non-insurrectionist) but it seems that it boils down to fundraising and being good on the stump. A job description for politicians sounds daft, but is it?
I'm all for making their job requirements and performance metrics more like ours, especially since we're the ones paying them. Maybe term limits would encourage them to take things like that more seriously, since they don't seem to have much of an incentive to do so when they know they will be reelected for years and years with no consequences for subpar results.
Half jokingly I think it used to be, "bring home the pork" and don't embarrass us, but now it seems that significant number of the voters are happy enough with entertainment rather than expecting (and voting for) a government to wield the immense power of the country for something ambitious, say, national healthcare, affordable post-secondary state university or trade school training, raising taxes and redistributing wealth downwards so that we share in good times and bank for our commitments to present and future generations. We have so much potential as a country; but, as the (Canadian!) songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen once said, " I love the country, but I hate the scene"
Experience in California has shown that when you have relatively short term limits in the assembly/senate, inexperienced legislators show up, get pitched by lobbyists on a law they can quickly propose and get passed, and tend to go for this so they will have some achievement before they are term limited. Then the legislator uses this to go from assembly/house to senate and so on.
Meanwhile the lobbyists are not term-limited, and you prevent the legislators getting enough experience to see through the lobbyists.
Really, term limits are evidence of a bug where legislators don't fear losing their seats in elections enough. For example in the UK there are no term limits, but half or more of Conservative MPs are about to be kicked out by voters as soon as there's an election this year. "Losing election" should be a higher risk for the GOP here too.
I saw where she actually stated that she wishes that the 1/6 "objection" to the election had been successful. Wow...that should be generating some outrage...but they've successfully flooded the zone over the past 8 years and fatigue is setting in.
That's been my thinking too. As with DJT, it seems to be becoming white noise to our ears in real time -- the more outrageous things they say and do, the less people care and pay attention. Which only opens the door to more of it from them, since there are no consequences. Again: what would happen to the rest of us if we did that at our place of employment? Likely we'd be reading the newspaper want ads and browsing job sites online, looking for ways to restore our income.
Their behavior is juvenile - name-calling, attacking duly-elected authorities. I want to say to the Trumpists, "Would you allow your child to behave like that?" Then I saw the clip of Idiocracy posted above and realized the parents do it too.
The GOP is sort of like...as long as we stick together and go with it...we can rule the world. They've gone from caring about our country to caring about themselves and their access to power and influence. For them the truth is what they all believe...not what the data, facts or truth represent.
“Score another one for tribalism: apparently it's okay within the GOP to waste our money doing nothing but pursuing petty grievances and spite, at our expense, as long as they aren't Democrats doing it and block whatever initiatives said Democrats would pursue instead.”
Agreed! It all started with McConnell and his famous pledge: “Our number one priority is to make sure Obama fails!”
This was the conservative thinking while the country was experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Republicans have never given a damn about America; it’s only power and control that they covet. Everyone who disagrees with their parochial and ideological viewpoints, be damned.
Additionally, it’s amazing how so many republicans like MTG, Gaetz and Trump can get away with duplicitous behavior and absurd statements, while when just one democrat says something stupid, suddenly the entire right-wing ecosystem goes off the rails and makes that statement the official policy position of the entire party. Yet, the reality is the entire Republican Party has jumped into the abyss.
Seriously! We have a president who has 91 indictments, and has been convicted in civil court several times, including for his main business, foundation, fake university, and even rape. Yet, only in America can Biden be considered more corrupt than the mango menace. Yet, they indict Biden as a show of projection. As for Hunter’s Chinese and Ukrainian payoffs? They don’t exist, but Kushner and the rest of the Trump Criminal Syndicate have benefited greatly from foreign governments like Saudi Arabia and China.
Bottom line: America is where dreams come true, especially if you’re a corrupt and morally bankrupt charlatan. There is no bottom, as these whack-a-doodles continue to fail upward!
I'm kind of surprised that there is no mention of MTG's latest round of antics in ratcheting up the House speakership crisis another notch or two. Then again maybe it has become so routine and so predictable that it no longer bears scrutiny until some actual consequence occurs.
That said, it seems fair to ask anew what business the GOP majority is getting done in this Congress. So I'm asking. And waiting for an answer. And still waiting. It also seems fair to wonder out loud why that is acceptable to so many people on the right, who in years past insisted on action toward our collective benefit and that represents at least some measurable outlay of achievement in exchange for the taxpayer-funded salary, pension funds, and benefits that they receive. Score another one for tribalism: apparently it's okay within the GOP to waste our money doing nothing but pursuing petty grievances and spite, at our expense, as long as they aren't Democrats doing it and block whatever initiatives said Democrats would pursue instead. Ask yourself how long you would have a job if you tried the same thing at your place of employment.
To the extent that winning vital seats in the House and the Senate is a priority for the Democrats, it might be about time that they make this a part of their campaign agenda and not expect us to read between the lines or figure it out for ourselves. It's okay to talk about a do-nothing Congress while playing up the accomplishments of the current administration, largely without their support.
I listen to a British podcast, The Rest is Politics, hosted by two former MPs, to get another view on governing a divided country with similar concerns. They recently raised a very good question: why are there no job descriptions, no prerequisites, for lawmakers in this day and age? We have a few (age, citizenship, nominally non-insurrectionist) but it seems that it boils down to fundraising and being good on the stump. A job description for politicians sounds daft, but is it?
I'm all for making their job requirements and performance metrics more like ours, especially since we're the ones paying them. Maybe term limits would encourage them to take things like that more seriously, since they don't seem to have much of an incentive to do so when they know they will be reelected for years and years with no consequences for subpar results.
Half jokingly I think it used to be, "bring home the pork" and don't embarrass us, but now it seems that significant number of the voters are happy enough with entertainment rather than expecting (and voting for) a government to wield the immense power of the country for something ambitious, say, national healthcare, affordable post-secondary state university or trade school training, raising taxes and redistributing wealth downwards so that we share in good times and bank for our commitments to present and future generations. We have so much potential as a country; but, as the (Canadian!) songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen once said, " I love the country, but I hate the scene"
Good point, and well stated.
Term limits are bad, at least for legislators.
Experience in California has shown that when you have relatively short term limits in the assembly/senate, inexperienced legislators show up, get pitched by lobbyists on a law they can quickly propose and get passed, and tend to go for this so they will have some achievement before they are term limited. Then the legislator uses this to go from assembly/house to senate and so on.
Meanwhile the lobbyists are not term-limited, and you prevent the legislators getting enough experience to see through the lobbyists.
Really, term limits are evidence of a bug where legislators don't fear losing their seats in elections enough. For example in the UK there are no term limits, but half or more of Conservative MPs are about to be kicked out by voters as soon as there's an election this year. "Losing election" should be a higher risk for the GOP here too.
So really the issue should be gerrymandering and outlawing it.
That's up to each state's voters. Not SCOTUS. For them, it's a political question. More on that here, for those interested: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artIII-S2-C1-9-1/ALDE_00001283/#:~:text=The%20political%20question%20doctrine%20limits,mootness%2C%20would%20otherwise%20be%20met.
"nominally non-insurrectionist" - love that.
I saw where she actually stated that she wishes that the 1/6 "objection" to the election had been successful. Wow...that should be generating some outrage...but they've successfully flooded the zone over the past 8 years and fatigue is setting in.
That's been my thinking too. As with DJT, it seems to be becoming white noise to our ears in real time -- the more outrageous things they say and do, the less people care and pay attention. Which only opens the door to more of it from them, since there are no consequences. Again: what would happen to the rest of us if we did that at our place of employment? Likely we'd be reading the newspaper want ads and browsing job sites online, looking for ways to restore our income.
MTG is just amping up the script for the reality TV show known as the US House of Representatives.
Their behavior is juvenile - name-calling, attacking duly-elected authorities. I want to say to the Trumpists, "Would you allow your child to behave like that?" Then I saw the clip of Idiocracy posted above and realized the parents do it too.
The GOP is sort of like...as long as we stick together and go with it...we can rule the world. They've gone from caring about our country to caring about themselves and their access to power and influence. For them the truth is what they all believe...not what the data, facts or truth represent.
“Score another one for tribalism: apparently it's okay within the GOP to waste our money doing nothing but pursuing petty grievances and spite, at our expense, as long as they aren't Democrats doing it and block whatever initiatives said Democrats would pursue instead.”
Agreed! It all started with McConnell and his famous pledge: “Our number one priority is to make sure Obama fails!”
This was the conservative thinking while the country was experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Republicans have never given a damn about America; it’s only power and control that they covet. Everyone who disagrees with their parochial and ideological viewpoints, be damned.
Additionally, it’s amazing how so many republicans like MTG, Gaetz and Trump can get away with duplicitous behavior and absurd statements, while when just one democrat says something stupid, suddenly the entire right-wing ecosystem goes off the rails and makes that statement the official policy position of the entire party. Yet, the reality is the entire Republican Party has jumped into the abyss.
Seriously! We have a president who has 91 indictments, and has been convicted in civil court several times, including for his main business, foundation, fake university, and even rape. Yet, only in America can Biden be considered more corrupt than the mango menace. Yet, they indict Biden as a show of projection. As for Hunter’s Chinese and Ukrainian payoffs? They don’t exist, but Kushner and the rest of the Trump Criminal Syndicate have benefited greatly from foreign governments like Saudi Arabia and China.
Bottom line: America is where dreams come true, especially if you’re a corrupt and morally bankrupt charlatan. There is no bottom, as these whack-a-doodles continue to fail upward!
Good times!..:)