One more guest post now – and then we’ll take a break on the guest posts until later this evening or tomorrow.
I’ll be adding links to all of these posts in the Inauguration area in the sidebar so you can revisit them, or catch them for the first time in the coming days. ~WaterGirl
*Reminder: Inauguration Zoom starts in about an hour. It’s not to late to send me info asking for the zoom info.
William, long-time lurker:
Thoughts on Trump/Biden transition
I knocked on doors for Elizabeth Warren and was disappointed that the glass ceiling remained intact. That being said, it is hard for me to imagine anyone but Joe Biden as the best fit for this moment. Everytime I hear him speak, introducing his cabinet or talking about his plans, I feel is a calming refreshing salve for the rough spots in my soul rubbed raw by four years of Trump’s inflammatory bullshit – sore spots I didn’t consciously realize I had until now. I don’t think Warren (or Bernie) would have this soothing effect. Perhaps America’s multiple crises require something more, but it sure feels good now.
The optimist in me is very much looking forward to a President who cares about the Constitution and to doing his job, to government agency heads who actually believe in the mission of their agencies — indeed simply to people who fundamentally recognize the need for government to solve various collective action problems. In my opinion the Covid pandemic is the biggest short-term problem, and climate change in the biggest long-term problem. I am hopeful that Biden has learned from the accomplishments and mistakes of previous presidents (especially Obama), and that he will make a good-faith effort to listen to and balance the progressive and centrist wings of the Democratic Party in marshalling the federal government to address these problems.
I also have some –some– hope that the January 6 insurrection will continue to be an anvil dragging down the extreme right-wing movement in this country – that it will be investigated and that more people will see the dangers of the white supremacist movement and respond accordingly (including ridicule).
The pessimist in me foresees minor gaffes and mis-steps by Biden etc. being blown way out of proportion by Republicans and right-wing media, with mainstream media attempting to “balance” things by minimizing Trump’s record and maximizing Democratic goofs. I foresee a flood of bad-faith arguments about deficit spending and corruption and cancel culture aimed at Democrats/liberals by people who didn’t give a rat’s ass about them as long as their side benefited.
As a liberal Democrat, I have a secret. I believe in the two-party system, and hence yearn for a rational Republican Party that competes for my vote by running candidates of character and policies that help the country. Not a party that competes by running on Trumpist MAGA themes and suppressing the vote. Don’t know how to achieve that, other than defeating them for several presidential elections in a row.
Thank you, William, for sending this in! Lurk less, comment more. (WG)
Baud
Y’all write good.
Jeffery
The rational Republican Party boat sailed years ago.
Annie
As of 12:01 Eastern time, I wasn’t scared anymore.
misterpuff
Drain the Nazi Swamp.
That should be Job 1 among hundreds of equally valid Job1s.
arrieve
Elizabeth Warren was also my first choice, and I was annoyed that Biden was even running. How wrong I was! It’s just possible that someone else could have beaten Trump, but by no means certain. And he is so absolutely the right President for these times that I am beyond thrilled that he won.
The Pale Scot
If the GOP lost power for a decade it would splinter into somethings else. Not sure that would be a good thing.
Baud
@The Pale Scot: The GOP losing power for a decade is absolutely a good thing.
Just Some Fuckhead
@arrieve: We switched our primary votes from Warren to Biden. She was doing progressively worse in each contest by the time we voted. It was absolutely heartbreaking but it was the right decision. It still hurts.
BC in Illinois
In my fantasies, I dream of the Republican Party being so thoroughly discredited as to be eliminated as a major political party. (All it would take is a leaked tape of a meeting in which they reveal their true self.)
My theory, which is mine, is that in two years we would have a new two-party system. Seeking support from a majority of the American people.
Providing.
Providing that we deal with the place of money in the system.
Citizens United. Dark money. ALEC. Etc.
If the place of money is not reformed, nothing changes.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Amen.
I first voted in 1986, in Pennsylvania. I voted for the Republican for governor and the Democrat for the Senate. The Republican running for governor that year was more liberal than the Democrat, so I voted for him. In 1990, the Republican was again more liberal than the Democratic governor, so I voted for the Republican in that race, too. That was the last time I ever voted for a Republican. I’d like to see Republicans I could at least think about voting for someday.
Baud
Harris about to swear in the Dem majority.
SiubhanDuinne
Here comes a nice moment: the Vice President is just about to swear in Senators Warnock and Ossoff.* (MSNBC has it, probably elsewhere too.)
*And Padilla. Apologies for the omission.
Kent
Excuse the sports metaphor.
But on 1/19/2021 we were still on defense. Exhausting all of our energy just trying to keep things from getting worse.
Today on 1/20/2021 we are on office for the first time in four years. We won’t remotely get everything we want. But all our energy will be towards making things better, not keeping them from getting worse.
It makes all the difference in the world.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Maybe, Obama had to constantly apologize to REAL Amerurica’ for the poor birth choice of having a black father. Biden is reassuring old, white and North East so it is assumed Biden knows how to behave “properly”. Trump’s sleazy, daughter borthing behavior may have changed that, the number of self important Press Twats who got ganked by Me Too may have changed that too.
Nicole
This was really good. I really enjoyed it. I’m a Warren girl, but I agree with you about Biden’s soothing energy.
The Moar You Know
@BC in Illinois: Well, you’re no Republican voter.
Republicans know what they’re voting for. They really do. They’re neither stupid nor misinformed nor in need of education. They want every word of what that leaked tape would say. They approve. They like it. They send money to make it happen.
I freely admit this is a problem I have no idea how to fix. Mainly because I seem to be incapable of thinking that way.
Benw
Totally agree with the pandemic and climate as the critical 1-2, William.
The Republican party (not just Trump) let 400,000 Americans die because they thought it would help them win the election, which they then tried to overturn. They are beyond forgiveness.
LadySuzy
America needs democrats in power for many years. In the long term, however, America needs two functional parties. And the Republican Party has to reform itself so when they win from time to time, we’re disappointed but not absolutely terrified !!!
Spanky
Out and about on some post-inaugural errands, I saw where a few out and proud Trumpists were flying the blue lives matter flag at the top of the staff. That’s it. No US flag, no Maryland flag. Fwiw, the proper flags were flying half-staff to honor long time State Senate President Mike Miller, who died a few days ago.
So the insurrectionists appear to have dropped any pretext of fealty to the stars and stripes which their lord and savior was so fond of humping.
Kropacetic
I watched the Nixon/Kennedy debate recently on Youtube, just some to get a better understanding of the time. I was amazed. When I listened to Nixon speak, I could see why someone might support this person, a first for a Republican Presidential candidate. I wouldn’t have preferred him, but I got see this as a reasonable choice to govern the nation.
Sad I had to go back, what, 56 years to find one.
Soprano2
I like your point about a party that actually runs on policies and ideas. Right now all the Republicans I know are most enthusiastic about “owning the libs” and “making libs cry”, and don’t seem to care much about actual policies. that’s bad IMHO.
Kent
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
Yep. Republicans I have voted for over the years: Mark Hatfield (Sen. from Oregon). Ted Stevens (Sen from Alaska). Also Charles Royer, mayor of Seattle who was an independent
When I was growing up in the 1970s, the Pacific Northwest had a lot of liberal Republicans who were actually more progressive than a lot of modern day Democrats, especially when it came to environmental protection.
zhena gogolia
This parade across America is great!
trollhattan
Fully agree that at the time I saw no role for Biden when he entered the race among what, twenty-five candidates? Fifty?
But Joe proved to be somebody people were both willing to fight for and come November, VOTE FOR. Since the election he seems to have gathered his cabinet and administration with great thought and care; perhaps only somebody with his resume and rolodex could have pulled this off. Now the work begins.
One more shoutout for Nancy SMASH, who has been nothing short of amazing keeping the House Democrats united (and how difficult that might be we shall never fully understand). Let’s see whether the Senate can also rise to the occasion. Did you know her daughter was caught up in the mess last summer to accommodate Trump’s photo-op by the White House? First reading this today.
I know politics can be personal but there’s personal and then there’s personal. Donny’s lucky the only thing he’s lost is his job.
dmsilev
@Just Some Fuckhead: I voted for Warren in the CA primary, but by then it was pretty clear that it was a lost cause. Biden was my second choice of those who were left by then, so I was ok with how things turned out. Since then, he’s grown to meet the moment, which gives me a lot of hope for how he’ll be as Pres.
Kent
Warnock and Ossoff getting sworn in now on CNN by Vice President Harris.
Baud
Kamala in the Chair!
Patricia Kayden
Good!
The Dangerman
I’m normally an exxxxxxxtremely patient person…
… but why hasn’t the fucker been arrested yet.
just askin… carry on …
Baud
“Against all enemies foreign and domestic, whether in this chamber or without…”
Baud
@The Dangerman:
Let’s enjoy not having Trump in the news for at least 24 hours.
natem
QAnon dorks coping majorly hard. Lotsa “Marshal of the Supreme Court” takes all over the Twitter, trying to convince each other Biden is just moments from being executed on live TV. Fun stuff!
SFBayAreaGal
Senate in control of the Democratic Party.
Baud
Patrick Leahy is now third in line to the presidency.
West of the Rockies
OT, and +2, but damn I feel hopeful now that we can get some good things accomplished!
dmsilev
I suppose we should have known that He Who Will Not Be Named wouldn’t have left office without one more rip-off-the-taxpayer move: T**** extended Secret Service protection for 14 members of his family as he left office
WaterGirl
@Baud: I missed it by minutes. If someone finds a video, please post it.
dmsilev
@Baud: We’re doomed!
Geoduck
@The Moar You Know: I don’t argue your basic point, but quite a few of them are also bone-stupid.
Obdurodon
I have nothing against the idea of a succession of Democrat presidents, each suited to the moment. Like you, William, I wanted Warren to be the candidate. By now I’m mostly convinced that Biden is closer to what we need right now, perhaps because of the same things that I think make him less ideal in the longer term. Hopefully we’ll be in a much better place in four years or eight, and it will be a place from which we can take that next step beyond where Biden would take us, but we can take it with gratitude for his having been there in this place and time. It takes a village to raise a country.
lamh36
Every time they say “Madama President” it just gives me the feels
the ceremonial swearing in ceremony, off the Senate floor for the 3 new Dem Senators and their families!
Martin
I could watch Kamala Harris in charge of shit for 4 years. Maybe 12 or 16.
Just Some Fuckhead
@The Dangerman: The same reason Lee Harvey Oswald gets sole blame for the assassination of JFK.
Baud
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
The next most senior Democrat in the Senate is Dianne Feinstein— but Leary’s been in the Senate seventeen years longer than her, and she’s been there since 1992!
Jay
Asha Rangappa, of CNN is already ripping into President Biden for his failed promises,
she wan’t to know, “Where is The First Cat!!!!!!!”
Jay
@Jay:
SFBayAreaGal
@SFBayAreaGal: Dang it. I should have said Senate is now controlled by the Democratic Party.
Parfigliano
@BC in Illinois: Wasnt there a tape of Paul Ryan speaking to numerous GOPers saying that he knew for a fact that McCarthy and I forget who else was on Putins payroll. That didnt do squat to GOP popularity. McCarthy would probably be Speaker if they took the House.
Jay
Jay
@SFBayAreaGal:
close enough for the Jackals.
Baud
@Jay:
Melissa
William, you are my soulmate. Politically speaking of course.
Cheryl Rofer
@Parfigliano: LOL, it was McCarthy saying that Trump and Rohrabacher were paid by Russia, and Ryan telling him to shut up about that.
NotMax
WaterGirl, in case others might be unsure about it as well, is the exclamation point a part of the actual password included in your e-mail or simply a marker of your enthusiasm?
cckids
@Jay:
Somebody should tell her the Bidens are being responsible pet owners – getting new pet right before moving or any other major upheaval isn’t fair to the animal.
Also, she needs to buy a clue & focus on actual issues.
rikyrah
Joe Biden is the man for this moment. All of his experiences have brought him to this point.
rikyrah
Loved the guest post👏
schrodingers_cat
OT observation: Warren is more popular on Balloon Juice than she is in the Commonwealth.
Parfigliano
@dmsilev: Sounds pretty easy to put a stop to.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Obdurodon: I’ve been looking at it this way: America is suffering from both an invasive cancer (systemic racism and other inequalities, propped up by the 21st-century GOP) and a bunch of massive stab wounds (Trumpism, pandemic). Biden’s not the oncologist we need to treat the cancer, but he’s the trauma surgeon we need to take care of the more urgent stab wounds.
Biden’s not necessarily the long-term answer. But today, January 20, 2021, he is the right man in the right place at the right time.
trollhattan
@SFBayAreaGal:
I thought maybe they changed the rules and just forget to tell us. :-)
Jay
@cckids:
she was being a smart ass and her twitter feed is full of Cat Owners for Biden with photos of their cats supporting Biden/Harris.
there will be a First Cat,
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Part of the password! (exclamation here is for humor)
Baud
Tim in SF
How does one get on the Zoom list?
Jay
Most of the World agrees.
bluehill
Lots of work to do and glad to see the Biden team has already started. Maybe the IRS will finally begin Trump’s audit!
Barbara
@trollhattan: I think of Pelosi’s staff cowering under a table in a conference room that they managed to barricade while marauders rifled through their personal things on the other side of the door wondering out loud where everyone was. They were trapped for at least an hour. That is not something you just get over the next time you come to work.
I honestly don’t know where the Republican Party goes from here. They have maintained the lie for so long that liberals, and “those” people and immigrants are responsible for whatever ails their base, as they merrily pandered to plutocrats and oligarchs, that it’s hard to see how they can turn it around. They need their “base” to be angry at someone else, and they are still trying to figure out how to feed that anger without ending up with Trump or someone like him next time.
debbie
@Jay:
Truer words were never spoken. I didn’t roll my eyes once today.
Cheryl Rofer
Old School
@Tim in SF:
E-mail WaterGirl.
Barbara
@Parfigliano: No, it was McCarthy stating that Dana Rohrbacher and Trump were on Putin’s payroll.
schrodingers_cat
@Cheryl Rofer: Thanks! I was looking for that clip.
geg6
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
I first voted in 1978. The first time I voted for a Republican was for John Heinz for Senate. For much the same reason you state. He truly was the better choice. I don’t regret voting for him ever. I do regret the lack of such Republicans today.
Jay
Cermet
Fuck the two party system; many countries have four, five or more major parties and do very well – most have far better social support systems and rarely start wars. Best if we get many parties rather than have the thugs to balance the Dems. Then there will be room for Green’s, real social dems, and anti-corporation partys. A rump right wing / Q-loony party could bring up the rear.
Obdurodon
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: That’s a great metaphor.
Jay
Barbara
@Cermet: We would need proportional voting or some other way of apportioning votes in order to avoid third parties that effectively act only as spoilers.
WaterGirl
@Tim in SF: send me email and I will send you the zoom info
my nym at balloon-juice.com
Matt McIrvin
@Cermet: You can’t have a viable multiparty system unless you have the constitutional structure to support one. A parliamentary system, usually.
I figure that given reasonably democratic elections, the United States will always gravitate to two parties, which are better than one. But I’d be perfectly happy in a world in which the conservatives were banished to outer darkness and the Rose Twitter Left Party were the party opposing the Democrats. We don’t live in that world, though.
lamh36
Inside the Oval Office, there is a bust of Ceasar Chevez behind the deak, but also, busts of MLK and Robert Kennedy in the Oval Office!!!
Also bust of Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt
KSinMA
@BC in Illinois: You’re so right.
Bluegirlfromwyo
@The Moar You Know: This, and if 4 years of Trump didn’t make it sink in, I don’t know what will.
The only way we get back to a functioning two party system is if the GOP gets the message that their character isn’t acceptable and they can’t gerrymander/voter suppress their way out of their jackassery. Let Biden be the balm while we do that job.
Jay
schrodingers_cat
@Cermet: No real multi-party democracy functions like your idealized description.
Benw
There are reports that Loeffler is selling off her 49% ownership of the WBNA Dream under pressure from the players and players’ union! Bye!
Spanky
@Cheryl Rofer: May we hear that laugh many times in our future.
danielx
Ooo-kay….wingnut event horizon has arrived.
Like the mythical bird that flies in ever decreasing circles until it disappears up its own ass…
Jay
Dude went to work today.
hueyplong
The temporary eclipse of a major party gone wrong has been good. You could argue that the two best legislative eras ever where the 1860s (when the Confederates were absent) and the 1930s (when the Hoover GOP was in disgrace and grotsquely outnumbered).
geg6
@Cermet:
Please read up on the American political and constitutional system. There is no real path for small parties. This is not a parliamentary system. The Framers may have made all kinds of noise about being horrified by “factions” but the system they created can only really work as a two-party system.
Jay
lamh36
@Jay: did u see the stack of EO he had to sign!!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Cermet:
so you’re also gonna rewrite the Constitution, get rid of the Senate, the Electoral College, and I suppose individual state governments– legislatures, governors, secretaries of state….
Good luck. Check in from time to time to let us know how fares the Revolution
lamh36
Seriously, ya’ll gott watch this video of Melanoma and Chump when they landed in Florida this morning! Chump call himself stopping and waving at folks, but Melanoma was like…
“Bish, I’m over it.” And kept on walking.!!!!! BWHAHAHAHA
https://twitter.com/ledisi/status/1351993769952858113?s=20
gwangung
Too many progressives don’t realize that the surest way to turn politics leftward is to destroy (electorally) the rightmost elements.
Make Republicans irrelevant, and the Dem party will split in two….with the progressives having a big chunk of that, and a much better chance of gaining power.
Baud
@lamh36:
Compare and contrast.
Jay
The Pale Scot
@Baud:
I can take a couple of weeks off. If only not seeing his name mentioned anywhere will give him nosebleeds
Obdurodon
@schrodingers_cat: You mean in the sense of not having more than two major parties? True, but misleading. Under proportional representation, which many countries do use, even minor parties get some voice because of their importance as coalition partners. Sometimes they get too much of a voice (cough Israel cough), and coalition building is generally a pain, but it lets them be something besides pure spoilers as in the US.
Can we do that in the US? Not without a constitutional amendment or two, but we haven’t been able to pass any of those for a long time and the prospects keep getting worse. I see no route to such a fundamentally better system, unfortunately.
Baud
@gwangung:
Republicans can never be irrelevant because there are real people who currently support them who will end up going somewhere. If the institutional Republican party went away, a split Democratic party would just take in those people.
p.a.
Don’t know if this is old news, but T**** just banned from Twitch. Have heard the word, but not sure what it is😉, but sure it will go up T****’s ass.
Zelma
@geg6:
John Heinz! What a tragedy. I voted for him twice. And I voted for Thornburgh. Both were sane, moderate Republicans who believed in government. A lost breed.
J R in WV
@Kropacetic:
But what you couldn’t have been certain of watching that debate was that Nixon was lying about his beliefs and intentions every time he spoke. This was proved in 1968 after he beat HHH in that election, which was marred by the murder of Bobby Kennedy the day he won the primary in California.
What a happy coincidence for Mr Nixon!
A second Kennedy running for president gets shot down like a dog!!! One who turned the FBI against the Mob for the first time!!!
lamh36
Vice President Kamala Harri’s secret service codename is: Pioneer!
Just Perfect!
Raven
I came home in 69 but couldn’t vote until 72, McGovern.
J R in WV
@trollhattan:
Fixed that for ya!! So FAR!!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36: cool, did you see/hear Biden’s?
Jay
The Pale Scot
@natem:
Do u have a link? I want a schaudenfreude fix and my googling isn’t doin’ it
Yutsano
@lamh36: I don’t think they’re allowed to feed their Secret Service guards but if they are…some of Madame VP’s gonna get chonky!
Amir Khalid
@Zelma:
Is that the John Heinz whose widow married John Kerry?
lamh36
@lamh36: link from CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/kamala-harris-secret-service-code-name-pioneer/index.html
The Pale Scot
@dmsilev:
I’d think directives can be canceled or modified. Pull the SS and hire a Russian security outfit. That will have them all on the toes
danielx
@geg6:
I voted for Richard Lugar several times, and still believe the country owes him a debt for the Nunn-Lugar act.
Naturally he ended up getting primaried by a serious wingnut name of Richard Mourdock, who promptly got his ass handed to him by Joe Donnelly in the general election.
debbie
@lamh36:
ReJECTed!
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Celtic. I mean, it’s bloody obvious now.
Calouste
@Obdurodon: There are a few places in the US now that have instant runoff voting, Maine and Alaska are the main ones. While it’s unlikely that any third party will win a seat any time soon, at least voters can vote third party without being a spoiler. And if third parties looked at organizing locally instead of wasting money on running for President, they might actually get some representation. (Looking at you, Green Party USA)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36:
I wonder if she picked that for the island. I’ve never been.
trump’s was “mogul”. I guess “Serial Bankrupt Trust Fund Failson” was too long for Secret Service communication
dmsilev
@Jay:
He’s got a little list, and they’ll be none of them be missed.
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I did not. CNN reported it about Harris.
But I wonder if Biden’s is the same as when he was VP?
trollhattan
@Benw:
Massive own-goal on her part. She went from active-engaged owner (and former player) to pariah because she remoraed over to Trump.
lamh36
I’m most looking forward to never having to hear Maggie Haberman for a long while. Notice she’s been more silent than she’s ever been in the past 4 years. I guess she aint’ got that access to POTUS Biden or VPOTUS Harris!
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Capri, a lesser known Mercury model.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: what would my codename be? “Sloth”? “Procrastination”? “about to get off the couch no really he means it this time”? too long
@trollhattan: the alt-Mustang, wasn’t it? I can’t imagine Dr B going for that. Not with Joe having that Corvette
Zelma
@Obdurodon:
A two party system is because our representative system is based on single-member districts. Even in a parliamentary system, if there is one rep per a geographic district, it’s very hard for a third party to be anything but a spoiler. A good example is Britain. The once proud Liberal Party was squeezed out by the rise of Labour. And the current Liberal Democratic Party basically made the current Tory majority possible.
Baud
As I’ve said before, to my knowledge, all multiparty systems have political parties that are far more top down and less democratic than the U.S. parties. I don’t know that American voters could get used to that.
trollhattan
@danielx:
Nunn-Lugar was as close to God’s work as politicians will ever get. Today: “Nuclear reduction? As if, hippie!”
Baud
@lamh36:
She’s working on her book!
Think of all the things about Trump she hasn’t told us yet.
Zelma
@Amir Khalid:
Yes. He was the Heinz heir and Senator from Pennsylvania. He died very young in a small plane crash. Pittsburgh went into mourning.
debbie
@trollhattan:
Didn’t realize she’d ever been a player. Was she any good?
Patricia Kayden
The answer is “everything”.
lamh36
Have ya’ll done it yet? Asked Siri/Alexa who’s the Vice President of the United States. I swear hearing them say the answer will make your day, even on this day of relief
Chyron HR
@schrodingers_cat:
You know she’s still an elected senator, right? I understand that there’s something seriously wrong with your brain, but surely on some level you must be aware of that fact?
Kent
Israel has 13 parties. Russia has 8 active parties and lots more minor parties. Iran has 6 major parties. Iraq has about 20 current parties.
All you get with more parties is that the coalition building to reach 50+1 % happens between the parties, not within them.
Brachiator
@Cermet:
And some have many parties and can barely function. Belgium went 600 days without a government. Other countries see the government collapsing as coalitions fail.
Some of the Founders hated factions and parties, but political parties immediately developed soon after the Constitution was ratified and Washington became president.
People like to party.
There ain’t no easy solution. Big tents stifle some groups.
Countries with many parties have a number of problems. There is little reason for a fringe party to ever modify its views if it can gain power with a small number of members, especially if they can become kingmakers of a coalition government.
Extremists can take over a party under a two party system, or subvert majority will under a multi-party system.
No easy or right answers.
lamh36
@Baud: Oh I know, but she still supposed to be a “journalist”… now that nobody wants to hear from Chump she ain’t go nobody to talk to, unless she start going on Fox
Punchy
@Soprano2: Ladies and Gents….it’s Cleeks Law all the way down. It explains everything they say and do, at all times.
Kent
That is because in multi-party systems all of the negotiations to reach 50% +1 governing majorities happen BETWEEN the party bosses without the involvement of the electorate. In the US, all of the coalition building occurs WITHIN the party during the primaries with the direct involvement of the electorate.
Either way you need to build a governing coalition or you get nothing done. In the US failure to do that ends in gridlock. In mult-party parliamentary systems it results in the fall of the government and new elections.
Brachiator
@lamh36:
I don’t have Apple or Amazon so I had to look this up. Very funny, but conspiracy nuts are running with this, cause they are crazy.
Google gets it right.
Gets her name right, too.
Richard
@Annie: I’m still scared but i do feel a lot better.
Baud
@Kent:
Right. Another thing Americans would have to get used to is governments falling and snap elections.
Matt McIrvin
@Cheryl Rofer: So cool, that she got to swear in her replacement.
karen marie
@natem: My downstairs neighbor stopped riding around with large confederate flags and “blue lives matter” flags on his pickup truck after 1/6 but this morning, while I was listening to the inauguration on my porch, he got in his truck, pulled up in front of the building and gunned his engine, staring at me with what he thinks was an intimidating look. He makes a three-year-old seem mature.
Kent
Remind him that the Trump flag needs to be flown at half mast
We have a neighbor like that. I taught my daughter a new term. “overcompensating” She loved it and taught it to all her friends.
debbie
@Brachiator:
What would be great would be if Kamala’s laugh accompanied the answer.
lamh36
@Brachiator: what are the conspiracy theorists saying?
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
lolololol
Matt McIrvin
@dmsilev: I voted for Warren on Super Tuesday in MA, but that was more or less her last hurrah. My second choice was Kamala Harris, who had already dropped out by then. I was very happy when Biden picked her as VP nominee. (For Biden’s running mate, she was a better choice than Warren.)
zhena gogolia
Thanks to WaterGirl and Immanentize for organizing the Zoom. It’s always so fun to see everyone. But I need to be in the same room with my husband right now, to kvell.
Calouste
@Brachiator: Belgium had a caretaker government for 600 days, they weren’t without a government. No new legislation happened, but the government kept doing its job. You know what didn’t happen in Belgium compared to the banana republic that is the USA? Government offices, national parks, you name it, didn’t close because one of the parties threw a fit.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
I LOVE MICHELLE’S BELT BUCKLE
zhena gogolia
@danielx:
I voted for Lowell Weicker several times. He would send personalized snail-mail answers to questions. He was fabulous.
ETA: and he was beaten by fucking Lieberman. But he got to be governor after that, so it was cool.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: I could get used to governments failing (in the parliamentary sense) and snap elections! That would be better than having a deadlocked government that just limps along forever in a nonfunctional state, and failed executives who you can’t remove until the timer runs out, except in an impeachment trial with an impossibly high bar for conviction.
zhena gogolia
@dmsilev:
G&S FTW!
Dan B
@Cheryl Rofer: Thanks for posting the swearing in. It was so wonderful to have Harris burst into laughter after reading her name as a resigned Senator. Her honest and appropriate emotions are part of the medicine this country needs.
sab
@karen marie: Time to take up clogging. It’s fun!
//
Brachiator
@lamh36:
From Poltifact. Super crazy nonsense
Because crazy don’t quit.
Dan B
@Cermet: Good thoughts about having multiple parties. We need regs that limit money for these to be viable.
And as far as wanting a “moderate” GOP I would, as a gay man with many friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who are POC, I don’t want these so called moderates. I lived through “moderate” Reagan. It’s like hoping for a “moderate” Confederacy. If they were truly moderate they would be centrist Dems like Steve Schmidt seems to be. I’m not happy with the corporatist slant.
Ksmiami
@Barbara: fuck them. I hope they eat eachother
Ksmiami
@Dan B: better off with the Democratic coalition solving problems- the current GOP is a policy and mental wasteland
Ksmiami
@Patricia Kayden: “what’s the most you ever lost in a coin toss friendo?“
dww44
@Baud: Agreed. That’s the only way they will acquire a necessary degree of humility. Arrogance is the dominant trait of the GOP, both elected and not. They’ve always behaved as if they are the only ones with the answers.
Besides, we Dems deserve more than 2 or 4 years to do things that are good for all Americans. I’m tired of the party being electorally punished for doing something that promotes the health and welfare snd civil liberties of all Americans..
Brachiator
@Calouste:
Legislation is the government doing its job.
misterpuff
@Brachiator: If we had a functioning multi-party system, guess who would have the power. Hint: not the lefties.
Think about the legislature graphics, three parties and the need to get to 50 + 1 or in the senate 60%. The right and the Left Parties would be very stable but the third party (which may or may not be ideologically rigid) would be the swing. SO they get power.
OK they may not lead the government but lets say the Moderate Party would be the swingers. The F’ing Blue Dogs would get a lot of say and they get to negotiate with both sides.
If the Dems can get to a supermajority why would we need a third party, well we wouldn’t but realistically we aren’t going to get there unless the GOP implodes and institutional inertia argues against that.
Dems do better with a two party system and The Left or Progressives would do better with two party system (if they can get some leadership roles within the big tent).
The biggest problem is not the number of parties but the systematic thwarting of voters by voter suppression (TM GOP).
Dan B
@Ksmiami: Washington state GOP voted to censure the two GOP Reps who voted for impeachment. The vote was 111 to 2, just in case you wondered what percentage of Republicans here are reasonable.
The old GOP has been annihilated here. The former very conservative state party chair resigned a few years ago. He’s an asshole but the party was too nuts for him.
Calouste
@Brachiator: No, new legislation is the legislature doing it’s job. The government, the executive branch, was functioning just fine, unlike in the US whenever a certain party in the legislature has a hissy fit.
William D
@Melissa: Thanks. I appreciate the sentiment, and my wife appreciates the clarification.