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JMFK's avatar

The current situation in Congress is EXACTLY what the Kochs, Mercers, etc. have been spending many millions of dollars of campaign and conservative think tank contributions over decades to achieve, i.e., the end of effective democratic government. Since an effective democracy is the only thing that stands in the way of them hoarding ever more of the nation's wealth for themselves and leaving the rest of us to beg for crumbs from their tables, they see democracy as their enemy and want to kill it. As many have pointed out, their interests are more aligned with Russian oligarchs, kleptocratic dictators, oil sheiks, etc. than with their fellow Americans, and they are finally seeing some real return on their investment.

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Edward's avatar

People often say we are a country of laws, which is true. However, we are also a country of norms, behaviors society recognized as leading to a more harmonious society. Those norms started decaying in the 1990s and now we live in a world (to paraphrase Daniel Patrick Moynihan) where deviance is perpetually being defined down. Behaviors that would have been abhorrent 10 years ago are tolerated, even embraced. We should not be surprised at the chaos in the House or the behavior of January 6th--once the norms were thrown out, everything became possible and allowable.

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