Wow. That's a new low standard for journalism. Whatever happened to keeping opinions and news separate?
Part of why our societies are so fractured is because of the insistence to "separate" news and opinions. When journalists aren't pointing out how broken a system is in direct words and instead insist on reporting "both sides" no matter how fundamentally wrong one side is, the wide masses don't care.
And no, modern Congress is not more corrupt than historical standards (which are extremely directly-buying-votes low), nor is reform unlikely.
"Corruption" doesn't only mean the ridiculous influence of money, it can also mean "a system that doesn't function as intended" - and the current US Congress is definitely at its historical low point at the moment, with the House GOP especially running on pure obstructionism. Shooting down their own Speaker for daring to cooperate with the government in passing a budget, and taking its sweet time to elect one twice is ridiculous.
To me, "fact vs opinion" and "equal viewpoints from all sides" are two different issues.
You can absolutely report the facts, and only the facts, that solely support one side.
At some point willful omission of counter-perspective/facts becomes its own bias, but I think that's a much lesser evil in modern times than commingling facts with opinions.
And agreed, re: Congressional inaction in the House, but that's also a consequence of the razor-thin majority that leads to minority-within-the-majority being allowed to hold votes hostage.
IMHO, House Democrats could have fixed that by supporting their centrist Republican colleagues in key votes (i.e. something like confidence and supply in more mature parliamentary systems), thus neutering extremist Republican members.
IMHO, House Democrats could have fixed that by supporting their centrist Republican colleagues in key votes (i.e. something like confidence and supply in more mature parliamentary systems), thus neutering extremist Republican members.
Now, if one could trust the Republicans to return the favor in the future... that fundamental trust is something that has been broken decades ago, starting with Newt Gingrich, but even more so during the Obama terms, and now with MAGA holding the GOP hostage the House is all but broken.
So, why should the Democrats help the "reasonable" Republicans? Democrat voters won't like it (because why vote Democrat when the only things getting passed are Republican bills?), Republican voters will see it as a sign of "weakness", and "reasonable" Republicans will not reciprocate because they fear getting yeeted out of the party like Kevin McCarthy.
So IMHO, Democrats should have unilaterally said "We will support Kevin McCarthy for speaker in exchange for X, Y, and Z."
That would have worked in keeping McCarthy as a Speaker, but there is no way the Democrats would have gotten X/Y/Z because any Republican that would have even hinted at following through with that promise would have faced getting ousted in this year's elections by some MAGAt armed with ridiculous amounts of campaign money.
The GOP, as it is, is fundamentally untrustworthy as long as MAGA and its supporters are not just willing but routinely doing anything they can to be as destructive as possible!
Comments
Part of why our societies are so fractured is because of the insistence to "separate" news and opinions. When journalists aren't pointing out how broken a system is in direct words and instead insist on reporting "both sides" no matter how fundamentally wrong one side is, the wide masses don't care.
"Corruption" doesn't only mean the ridiculous influence of money, it can also mean "a system that doesn't function as intended" - and the current US Congress is definitely at its historical low point at the moment, with the House GOP especially running on pure obstructionism. Shooting down their own Speaker for daring to cooperate with the government in passing a budget, and taking its sweet time to elect one twice is ridiculous.
To me, "fact vs opinion" and "equal viewpoints from all sides" are two different issues.
You can absolutely report the facts, and only the facts, that solely support one side.
At some point willful omission of counter-perspective/facts becomes its own bias, but I think that's a much lesser evil in modern times than commingling facts with opinions.
And agreed, re: Congressional inaction in the House, but that's also a consequence of the razor-thin majority that leads to minority-within-the-majority being allowed to hold votes hostage.
IMHO, House Democrats could have fixed that by supporting their centrist Republican colleagues in key votes (i.e. something like confidence and supply in more mature parliamentary systems), thus neutering extremist Republican members.
Now, if one could trust the Republicans to return the favor in the future... that fundamental trust is something that has been broken decades ago, starting with Newt Gingrich, but even more so during the Obama terms, and now with MAGA holding the GOP hostage the House is all but broken.
So, why should the Democrats help the "reasonable" Republicans? Democrat voters won't like it (because why vote Democrat when the only things getting passed are Republican bills?), Republican voters will see it as a sign of "weakness", and "reasonable" Republicans will not reciprocate because they fear getting yeeted out of the party like Kevin McCarthy.
Comprise starts with compromise.
"We won't until they do" leaves everyone blocked.
So IMHO, Democrats should have unilaterally said "We will support Kevin McCarthy for speaker in exchange for X, Y, and Z."
If they had, we'd be in a better place today. For Democrats, for Republicans, and for America.
Instead, they suggested that Republicans vote for Jeffries as a speaker, and got Johnson.
Is that really better?
Realpolitik >> idealist politics
That would have worked in keeping McCarthy as a Speaker, but there is no way the Democrats would have gotten X/Y/Z because any Republican that would have even hinted at following through with that promise would have faced getting ousted in this year's elections by some MAGAt armed with ridiculous amounts of campaign money.
The GOP, as it is, is fundamentally untrustworthy as long as MAGA and its supporters are not just willing but routinely doing anything they can to be as destructive as possible!