02-02-2021, 03:52 PM
(01-31-2021, 06:41 PM)mamabug Wrote:(01-31-2021, 12:05 PM)David Horn Wrote:(01-31-2021, 01:25 AM)mamabug Wrote: Good. I hate executive actions in general but they've just been getting worse for the last 20 years or so. It's a convenient way to absolve the legislature of having to do anything (if all on the same team) or the executive of having to actually work with them (if they are not). They also allow for substantial changes to occur without debate (or scrutiny if the media is feeling particularly lazy). The more we use them, the more it sets us up for a rotating dictatorship every 4-8 years.
Partisanship has made it impossible to actually do much of anything most of the time. If anything, it's even worse now than it was 10 years ago. Don't expect much if anything, unless the filibuster is crushed. Even then, the Dems are limited by Joe Manchin. That could change if DJT actually creates a rival right-wing party.
The entire point of our constitution is to make it difficult for one party or group to 'get things done.' Over the course of our country, Americans have repeatedly shown that they *like* gridlock - it's not a bug, it's a feature. The only way to overcome this to make your party agenda popular enough that it gets about 60% or more of the public support.
People whining about partisanship sound a lot to me like sports fans whinging that the other team is allowed to even field a defense.
I agree with that last point. The problem now is that one Party (yours I assume) is pathologically dedicated to standing in the way of all necessary solutions, mostly justified by their neo-liberal ideology and their religion. Sometimes gridlock is dysfunction. That is the case today. The filibuster must be reduced or removed now. A nation cannot have a government prevented from taking any action for 40 years, and expect to endure. The dysfunctional Party (yours) has removed filibusters too; the most necessary one in fact. It should be our turn now.