The next three weeks are going to be a tale of two chambers. The Senate will be in recess, The House will be an absolute circus. On Friday, the House Republicans will get their first real thrill when they vote to repeal “ObamaCare.” The Democrats won’t care though, because Harry Reid isn’t going to pay any attention to their stupid repeal and the thing will just die. Therefore, the whole exercise is basically pointless. It could be considered some kind of a con designed to make stupid Tea Party-types think the Republicans and following through on their promises. But I don’t think anyone will really be fooled. More likely, most Americans will want to know why the GOP is focusing on bullshit instead of jobs and the economy.
Pointless partisan braying will be on display in countless ways as new House members compete to get attention for being the most anti-Obama. But the Senate won’t be idle. While they will be in recess, they are going to be discreetly discussing rules changes. You can get a basic breakdown of the proposed reforms from David Waldman. I’ll have more to say about them over the next three weeks.
The main thing, though, is that the Democratic reformers will be trying to build public support for the rules changes over the next few weeks, and that is where you can be of some assistance by spreading the word to your personal social networks and helping the case for reform go viral. We’ll be ignoring most of the Stupid that is going on in the House and trying to help pass meaningful reforms that will make our government more accountable and efficient.
I’m glad you are focusing on this. Here are my proposed reform points that we should focus on:
I’m also suggesting that people write letters to their newspaper editors and contact their Senators and VP Biden about this:
http://www.winningprogressive.org/filibuster-reform-process-must-start-tomorrow-january-5-make-calls
-now
That’s an excellent post and I’ve been writing to a variety of Senators for much of the past two years stressing several of the points you make.
Thank you.
Republicans don’t really believe in using government institutions for anything other than advancement of their political interests, so that’s really the only way to understand their actions. It’s how they are wired. Ideologically they reject the notion that government can do anything good, so their role in government is really just to play the game in a way that advances their political interests.
So actually, the politics of what the House is doing will be very important. Most Americans won’t be fooled, but most Americans don’t vote. The question is how their kabuki is playing amongst their base and conservative independents, especially in swing states where the Presidential election in 2012 will be decided- Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania (all of which went heavily for the GOP in 2010).
Im sort of sick of people saying that the GOP are rubes and idiots. WHen it comes to politics they are extremely sophisticated and everything they are doing is actually very well thought out and calculated. From a policy perspective, its all beyond embarrassing, but they don’t even believe the government is capable of good policy, so while we’re scratching our heads at their policy proposals, they’re back in the strategy room figuring out how to win the next election.
Your statement …
“so while we’re scratching our heads at their policy proposals, they’re back in the strategy room figuring out how to win the next election.”
…. is accurate. Yes. They could not have made it any clearer – for the past 30+ years.
Their objective is not governance, certainly not democratic governance.
Their objective is as streamlined a process as possible of ensuring the maximum return on investment – for every $ spent getting a Republican in office, the ultra-wealthy few expect an ever larger share of the net worth of the Nation to reside in their personal bank accounts.
In-the-know Republican politicians will say and do anything, to anyone, at whatever cost, taking money from foreign governments just as willingly as from any American corporatist – now a practice blessed by the Supreme Court – to ensure that they, Republican politicians, remain employed as they do all they can to widen the gap between those seeking to own the maximum amount of America’s assets (i.e., their employers) and everyone else.
A petty criminal steals your wallet.
Organized crime shakes down your business, suborns your accountant, or defrauds your insurance company.
Really organized crime simply has the statute on larceny repealed.
The GOP is a political party based on the theory that the only legitimate domestic role for the state — blowing up brown people who worship the wrong God isn’t a domestic role — is to provide their getaway car with a police escort.
To your point; Steve King of Iowa makes his contribution.
King thinks that he can make the change without an amendment “because it’s easier”.
Excellent idea to get the proposals to go viral. Of course that takes away from the time one has to write comments complaining about the Democratic proposals. Or wondering whether Ben Nelson will jump ship (most likely, yes).
But in this case, Waldman’s description of the details and email, Facebook, Twitter, and the USPS are your friends and allies. And you don’t even have to use the word “Democrat”. Just say that these things are what need to be done. We know that these are mostly doable because there is some Democratic consensus on the specific points. We just don’t know what the whip count is yet. And Democratic unity would pretty much force out some Republican votes. So would Republicans hearing from known Republican constituents.