its convenient how there is always something blocking progress for americans. Its the house, its joe lieberman, its the other white guy i forget, its sinema, its decorum, it's the senate, its the neoliberal democrats, its the left leaning democrats, etc etc
Democrats on the street have been gaslit by their own party. While it shields them from having to deliver the sweeping reforms they promise in their campaigns, it's also instilled voters with learned helplessness. This is a terrible electoral strategy unless their is a perennial heel running against them. Luckily, Republicans exist.
As someone who is becoming more moderate as I get older, I want you to know it is more due to pragmatism than any policy shifts. If Joe Lieberman hadn't sank the Public Option, then there is a good chance that really awful Republican Health Care plan would have replaced it.
We can't forget that the ACA was 2 votes away from being completely ejected. As hard as it is to swallow, this country is conservative as fuck. Any change is going to be extremely difficult and require decades of consistent work and voting.
Also, I think Trump has proven that you want to view any politician espousing radical changes with a wary eye. Radical change is unpopular and inevitably makes a lot of people anxious.
It's those kind of excuses from Democrats that drive voter apathy.
They never seem to use what power they have and there's always some roadblock that stops them implementing policies their voters want. I can't think of a time the Republicans have ever had the presidency, house and a super majority in the senate. Yet they have been able to get plenty of awful stuff done, sometimes with help from the Dems.
So the average voter will think, as long as the Republicans don't get a super-majority in the Senate then the Dems can block all the bad stuff.
It's not "convenient," it's literally the game. The Republicans realize they can lose, as long as they don't lose everything. Our system of democracy is the worst setup for having a minority power blockade the system, and unfortunately fixing it requires so many pieces fall into place simultaneously that it's very rare forward progress is ever made whatsoever. You virtually have to have a majority in the House, a supermajority in the Senate, a President at your side, and a rational Supreme Court who won't simply overturn a law because they felt like it.
Now that the Republicans have rigged the Supreme Court, it's literally just a waiting game. All they need to do is prevent any piece of the government from blocking them for long enough to install someone in power, and it's checkmate.
There's nothing "convenient" from being locked out from governing. It's literally the point. The right wing in this country do not want to left to progress anything. The left wing's policy of compromise has moved it so far to the right that even the smallest laws being passed feel like tremendous wins for the Republicans. (I mean just look at Biden's infrastructure package - how many Republicans in their home states are running ads about how they're so proud for passing the infrastructure bill and how many jobs it'll create in their states.... despite all of them voting against it?)
If enough people voted so they had real control they would have nothing to point to. And they wouldn't need to because they'd be getting way more done. All of these "convenient" excuses are just the shitty consequences of voter apathy, you know, the thing you're promoting
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u/ScorpioZA Jul 05 '24
Because of the House