In a 2-party system, we kinda need both parties functioning well - especially when we have some pretty big problems to deal with. Unfortunately, right now, there's something really really wrong with one of 'em.
Coupla points: First, the GOP used to be my guys. But then along came Iran/Contra, and Willy Horton and then Pat Buchanan's speech in Houston in '92. And holy fuck, Batman - that's pretty fucked up right there; so I just couldn't get with it any more, and besides, I had Clinton, and he was a pretty good Republican, so yeah. Anyway...
...Second: In politics there's a rationale (rationalization is more like it) that gets used a lot whenever somebody in office is being pressured by the party bosses to vote in a way that "goes against his principles" - or defies outright the simple common sense god gave a fuckin' gopher. They may not like what's happening (hell, they may not be all that crazy about what they're doin' their own bad self), but the psycho-trap they fall into is that if they're not in office, there's no way they can do anything about anything - so they gotta stay in office no matter what.
The most recent example is the vote against cloture in the senate when Background Check was up for debate. Every one of those people was aware of the broad and deep public support for the thing, but "party discipline" required 45 GOP senators to go against the public interest (not to mention their own instincts) just so McConnell's Rat Crap Radicals could keep Obama from winning anything. And the way it works is exactly what Ornstein and Mann (and a jillion others) have been trying to tell us. "If you don't vote the way the party bosses tell you to vote, you'll have a very strong primary opponent in your next election blah blah blah". No more power, no more honoraria, no more after-the-fund-raiser blowjobs in a hot tub, no more perks at all - Political Death. It scares 'em, and it keeps 'em in line.
OK, so nobody doesn't know that, but isn't it really just a slight variation on ChickenHawkery? Aren't they saying something very much like, "Yeah wow, the country's in a tight spot, and it looks pretty bad, and somebody'll have to take some pretty huge risks, but c'mon - you don't really expect me to go fight, do ya? Shit, a guy could get seriously killed doin' that".
I've said it a thousand times - there's no soul and no honor in it any more - and now we get another reminder of why - because too many of these pricks have no real courage.
(hat tip = facebook buddy Doug R)
Coupla points: First, the GOP used to be my guys. But then along came Iran/Contra, and Willy Horton and then Pat Buchanan's speech in Houston in '92. And holy fuck, Batman - that's pretty fucked up right there; so I just couldn't get with it any more, and besides, I had Clinton, and he was a pretty good Republican, so yeah. Anyway...
...Second: In politics there's a rationale (rationalization is more like it) that gets used a lot whenever somebody in office is being pressured by the party bosses to vote in a way that "goes against his principles" - or defies outright the simple common sense god gave a fuckin' gopher. They may not like what's happening (hell, they may not be all that crazy about what they're doin' their own bad self), but the psycho-trap they fall into is that if they're not in office, there's no way they can do anything about anything - so they gotta stay in office no matter what.
The most recent example is the vote against cloture in the senate when Background Check was up for debate. Every one of those people was aware of the broad and deep public support for the thing, but "party discipline" required 45 GOP senators to go against the public interest (not to mention their own instincts) just so McConnell's Rat Crap Radicals could keep Obama from winning anything. And the way it works is exactly what Ornstein and Mann (and a jillion others) have been trying to tell us. "If you don't vote the way the party bosses tell you to vote, you'll have a very strong primary opponent in your next election blah blah blah". No more power, no more honoraria, no more after-the-fund-raiser blowjobs in a hot tub, no more perks at all - Political Death. It scares 'em, and it keeps 'em in line.
OK, so nobody doesn't know that, but isn't it really just a slight variation on ChickenHawkery? Aren't they saying something very much like, "Yeah wow, the country's in a tight spot, and it looks pretty bad, and somebody'll have to take some pretty huge risks, but c'mon - you don't really expect me to go fight, do ya? Shit, a guy could get seriously killed doin' that".
I've said it a thousand times - there's no soul and no honor in it any more - and now we get another reminder of why - because too many of these pricks have no real courage.
(hat tip = facebook buddy Doug R)
