In 2012, Democrats won 1.2% more votes nationwide for House seats, but the GOP had a 234-201 majority in DC. [Edited to correct an error in my prior statement.] [0]
Also, don't forget the other ways they've seriously undermined elections: The Republicans on the Supreme Court removing the barrier to unlimited, anonymous election spending. Republicans on the Federal Election Commission blocking almost all enforcement action. Republicans in Congress threatening, intimidating, and investigating the IRS into ceasing campaign finance enforcement actions
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I don't mean this in a partisan way; I embrace some conservative ideas and wish the Republican Party provided excellent governance, great ideas and policy, and the best possible choice for voters. However, that is not the case right now. The hypothesis that seems to predict the Republican's behavior to me (and which I invite others to test and challenge) is that it is a scorched earth ideological war against anything 'liberal', good or bad.
* By "ideological", I mean these are the definition of dogmatic, extremist idealogues: Truth, facts, and human welfare are not the tests of statements or policy, ideology is; consider climate change, as an example, or all the extremist, clearly false statements by Republican candidates, including the President-elect - acceptable because they fit ideology, not truth or good policy. In fact, I believe any discussion of issues is a distraction from the ideological steps they will pursue regardless.
* By "scorched earth", I mean regardless of the harm it does to the country and world - burn down the institutions, economies, and ruin the people - again, think of climate change.
I think it's so extreme a problem that people naturally doubt it can be that bad, but I think it is: The current Republican Party, since 2001, is a serious threat the U.S. and world. The Democrats are complicit by their passivity - a dereliction of duty, even cowardice - which has allowed this behavior to become acceptable, even a norm.
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Consider, off the top of my head, real-world examples of the scorched earth ideological campaign:
* Climate change: Rejected because it's a 'liberal' idea
* The embrace and encouragement of torture, war, and violence.
* Undermining elections, as described above.
* The criminalization of opposition politics, with their voters accused of fraud, and their leaders impeached (Clinton), his legal legitimacy questioned (Obama), or investigated endlessly and threatened with imprisonment (Clinton), and the widespread demonization of them.
* Undermining the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, regardless of the damage, through record filibusters and obstructionism: As examples, shutting down the government multiple times; seriously threatening bankruptcy of the U.S. government and causing its credit rating to be reduced; refusing to vote on a Supreme Court nomination for the first time, leaving the judiciary unable to act in some cases; nominating a clearly unqualified candidate for President who may even be cooperating with a foreign enemy.
* Damaging the news media and the cause of an informed public with an endless flood of ideological propaganda campaigns.
Comments
In 2012, Democrats won 1.2% more votes nationwide for House seats, but the GOP had a 234-201 majority in DC. [Edited to correct an error in my prior statement.] [0]
Also, don't forget the other ways they've seriously undermined elections: The Republicans on the Supreme Court removing the barrier to unlimited, anonymous election spending. Republicans on the Federal Election Commission blocking almost all enforcement action. Republicans in Congress threatening, intimidating, and investigating the IRS into ceasing campaign finance enforcement actions
----
I don't mean this in a partisan way; I embrace some conservative ideas and wish the Republican Party provided excellent governance, great ideas and policy, and the best possible choice for voters. However, that is not the case right now. The hypothesis that seems to predict the Republican's behavior to me (and which I invite others to test and challenge) is that it is a scorched earth ideological war against anything 'liberal', good or bad.
* By "ideological", I mean these are the definition of dogmatic, extremist idealogues: Truth, facts, and human welfare are not the tests of statements or policy, ideology is; consider climate change, as an example, or all the extremist, clearly false statements by Republican candidates, including the President-elect - acceptable because they fit ideology, not truth or good policy. In fact, I believe any discussion of issues is a distraction from the ideological steps they will pursue regardless.
* By "scorched earth", I mean regardless of the harm it does to the country and world - burn down the institutions, economies, and ruin the people - again, think of climate change.
I think it's so extreme a problem that people naturally doubt it can be that bad, but I think it is: The current Republican Party, since 2001, is a serious threat the U.S. and world. The Democrats are complicit by their passivity - a dereliction of duty, even cowardice - which has allowed this behavior to become acceptable, even a norm.
----
Consider, off the top of my head, real-world examples of the scorched earth ideological campaign:
* Climate change: Rejected because it's a 'liberal' idea
* The embrace and encouragement of torture, war, and violence.
* Undermining elections, as described above.
* The criminalization of opposition politics, with their voters accused of fraud, and their leaders impeached (Clinton), his legal legitimacy questioned (Obama), or investigated endlessly and threatened with imprisonment (Clinton), and the widespread demonization of them.
* Undermining the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, regardless of the damage, through record filibusters and obstructionism: As examples, shutting down the government multiple times; seriously threatening bankruptcy of the U.S. government and causing its credit rating to be reduced; refusing to vote on a Supreme Court nomination for the first time, leaving the judiciary unable to act in some cases; nominating a clearly unqualified candidate for President who may even be cooperating with a foreign enemy.
* Damaging the news media and the cause of an informed public with an endless flood of ideological propaganda campaigns.
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[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Represe...