The Republicans got on the lion faster and better than the Democrats did. Rather than realize that the lion is going to eat the Republicans, the Democrats are trying to raise their own lion. As long as both sides insist that their lion is better than the other lion, there is no chance at compromise. In this case the lion is simply the extremes of the two parties.malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 06, 2019 4:35 pmYou have to explain this because it doesn't really compute. The Republicans held all the levers but because the Dems had some measure of 'blocking power' they had responsibility? I could go with that if the Dems had used that power meaningfully. They didn't drag out the budget process. It was the WH and the Republican leadership. 100%. I guess you could argue there is some delay around the edges you could pin on the Dems through the course of normal BAU but heaping any meaningful part of the blame on them...feels a bit unjust and not realistic.Fitzy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 06, 2019 9:51 amAllow me to restate, WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN TO A POINT WHERE A SHUTDOWN WAS EVEN AN OPTION
All of the appropriation bills should have been done before Sept 30. Given the power imbalance, this is mostly on the Republicans. However, given that the Democrats do have enough votes to block any funding bill in the Senate, they should get some of the blame.
They’ve long appealed to their base voters, but there was always a necessary pivot back to the center to win general elections. The Tea Party demonstrated that wasn’t necessary and Trump perfected it. He won by targeting a vocal, small minority who would vote in droves while demoralizing the other side. The Democrats with the push left are trying to duplicate it.
Right now the Democrats’ lion is still stretching its muscles and not yet hungry. But it’s eyeing the juicy antelope (or whatever lions eat) that the Republican lion gets and it wants it. Lions are lazy though, so there’s a small window for the Democrats to walk away.
If the Democrats decide to feed their lion, what’s left but the torn carcasses of herbivores?
That is how I see the big picture.
The Democrats are trying to treat the current situation like past ones. They can’t. Trump is insane. They also can’t try to out crazy him. It’s not possible. The only long term solution is to work with whatever remaining Republicans are willing to forgo insanity and present done deals long before the deadlines. The closer to the deadline they get, the more power they give the crazy person.
So yeah, I heavily fault the Republicans for the current situation. I am well aware that most of the disfunction right now is on them and more specfically on Trump. I also believe that if we don’t reign in the Democrats now, there will be no opportunity to do so later and at that point things will get bad for real. And I look back at the last few decades and I see both parties heading down this path, it isn’t all on the Republicans. They just did it better.
For that reason, I’m not going to stop pointing out where I think the Democrats are failing. I think that in a two party system, giving one side uncritical support is going to result in a terrible system, even if the other side is currently nuts.
Or to put it into metaphor form, just because one psychiatrist is poisoning the patient, is no reason to keep taking the wrong meds from the other psychiatrist. You know, if people had two psychiatrists. One of whom was poisoning them, the other who just gave the wrong meds so they never get better... I’ll work on my metaphors.