01-06-2023, 06:02 AM
I'm old enough to remember when children were taught that singing from the chest was ideal for expressive power. It was also so for public speaking. Have we abandoned that? 'Fraid so. I would go back to the old school if at all possible for singing.
......
Now for politics. I don't know yet whether it is comic or tragic, but the Republican House majority seems unable to elect a Speaker of the House. Typically the vote goes down Party lines, but there is enough of a rift within the GOP to prevent Kevin McCarthy from becoming Speaker. God forbid that we should have a war, an economic meltdown, or a natural disaster in the next two years.
The GOP has become an authoritarian Party, and those are especially prone to rifts due to a command-and-control practice that ensures that people in some marginalized faction gets the shaft. This faction has little in common with Democrats, so no deal is possible for a Democrat to become Speaker. Try again with someone else? The results might be the same.
The House of Representatives has the power of the budget, and I can imagine the GOP trying to go on a "My Way or the Highway" approach, which will ensure gridlock. I see little reason for it to change its ways. The confrontation will remain even if the effectiveness completely vanishes.
......
Now for politics. I don't know yet whether it is comic or tragic, but the Republican House majority seems unable to elect a Speaker of the House. Typically the vote goes down Party lines, but there is enough of a rift within the GOP to prevent Kevin McCarthy from becoming Speaker. God forbid that we should have a war, an economic meltdown, or a natural disaster in the next two years.
The GOP has become an authoritarian Party, and those are especially prone to rifts due to a command-and-control practice that ensures that people in some marginalized faction gets the shaft. This faction has little in common with Democrats, so no deal is possible for a Democrat to become Speaker. Try again with someone else? The results might be the same.
The House of Representatives has the power of the budget, and I can imagine the GOP trying to go on a "My Way or the Highway" approach, which will ensure gridlock. I see little reason for it to change its ways. The confrontation will remain even if the effectiveness completely vanishes.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.