2020 Elections

[marshwiggle]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

[pgher]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

I think we need a two-party system in which both parties subscribe to the same set of facts, just different interpretations, and that both act in good faith. The Republican party these days has a substantial faction (probably a majority) that denies factual evidence and acts in bad faith.

[mamselle]

All the jurisprudential dithering is imprudent.

Limit-setting is needed.

Consequential limits are the only way to do that.

People who dither about this or that side effect are trying to side-step effective action.

If you've ever dealt directly with abusive, dangerous people, you learn this.

Pelosi has it right: keep the pressure up and don't let Trump pull any shenanigans, now or later.

Stop the pussyfoot dance of "what-about-this-or-that." Start the impeachment, get the nuke codes away from him, and let the NY Attorney General arrest him on Jan.21.

Spoiled children are dangerous.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Assuming current Republicans didn't migrate en masse to the Democrats, yes, the country would be in a better place. But, as pgher observes, the more desirable situation is a multi-party state in which the other party(ies) isn't (aren't) dominated by terribad actors.

[Sun_Worshiper]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

What an absurd and pointlessly provocative response to my comment. As Joe Biden said, we need a strong and principled Republican party. Currently party leadership has failed to provide a legitimate opposition and instead resorted to authoritarianism, conspiracy theories, and falsehoods in an effort to appeal to the worst instincts of the American people. If you actually care about democracy or about the Republican party you should want a deep reorientation of its approach to politics.

[Sun_Worshiper]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

I think we need a two-party system in which both parties subscribe to the same set of facts, just different interpretations, and that both act in good faith. The Republican party these days has a substantial faction (probably a majority) that denies factual evidence and acts in bad faith.

Well said.

[marshwiggle]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

I think we need a two-party system in which both parties subscribe to the same set of facts, just different interpretations, and that both act in good faith. The Republican party these days has a substantial faction (probably a majority) that denies factual evidence and acts in bad faith.

The progressives on the left don't subscribe to a lot of facts about things like biology; both sides have their serious blind spots.

Assuming current Republicans didn't migrate en masse to the Democrats, yes, the country would be in a better place. But, as pgher observes, the more desirable situation is a multi-party state in which the other party(ies) isn't (aren't) dominated by terribad actors.

It boggles my mind that anyone would think this. History has shown that any person or group with no serious opposition will eventually go way off the rails. (And if there were only one party, it wouldn't matter how many people "migrated" to it since a tiny number of votes would be all that was necessary to elect them with no opposition. And that's without them legislating themselves as "government for life".)


"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

[mamselle]

The progressives on the left don't subscribe to a lot of facts about things like biology; both sides have their serious blind spots

Um...you do know that at least one progressive, AOC, has a degree in microbiology, yes?

M.

[Cheerful]

There should be term limits for members of Congress.  Incumbents have too much power.  Give more Americans an opportunity to serve.

[Sun_Worshiper]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

I think we need a two-party system in which both parties subscribe to the same set of facts, just different interpretations, and that both act in good faith. The Republican party these days has a substantial faction (probably a majority) that denies factual evidence and acts in bad faith.

The progressives on the left don't subscribe to a lot of facts about things like biology; both sides have their serious blind spots.

Republican "blindspot," by which I mean purposeful lies by party leadership, led to an insurrection on the Capital. Stop your pointless whataboutism for five minutes to see how destructive this nonsense has become. 

[Sun_Worshiper]

The progressives on the left don't subscribe to a lot of facts about things like biology; both sides have their serious blind spots

Um...you do know that at least one progressive, AOC, has a degree in microbiology, yes?

M.

Amusing indeed to hear Republicans stand up for biology after decades of attacking evolution.

[Parasaurolophus]

Assuming current Republicans didn't migrate en masse to the Democrats, yes, the country would be in a better place. But, as pgher observes, the more desirable situation is a multi-party state in which the other party(ies) isn't (aren't) dominated by terribad actors.

It boggles my mind that anyone would think this. History has shown that any person or group with no serious opposition will eventually go way off the rails. (And if there were only one party, it wouldn't matter how many people "migrated" to it since a tiny number of votes would be all that was necessary to elect them with no opposition. And that's without them legislating themselves as "government for life".)


"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

It boggles my mind that you would thusly mischaracterize what I wrote. To help with your reading comprehension, I've added bold tags to my original post.

[Parasaurolophus]

The progressives on the left don't subscribe to a lot of facts about things like biology; both sides have their serious blind spots

Um...you do know that at least one progressive, AOC, has a degree in microbiology, yes?

M.

FWIW, her degree is in IR and economics. But she did come second for microbiology at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in her last year of high school.

(Even so, your point stands: the claim was ludicrous on the face of it.)

[ciao_yall]

There should be term limits for members of Congress.  Incumbents have too much power.  Give more Americans an opportunity to serve.

We have term limits at the State level in California and it's a hot mess. The only people who have any clue about what is going on are the lobbyists and staffers.

[ciao_yall]

We should expect right wing terrorism targeting both policymakers to become increasingly common in the next few years. Thanks to Trump for ginning up his supporters with lies and Republicans for either actively or passively supporting his efforts.

So if the Republican party evaporated, so the Democratic party was the only major party, do you think that the country would be on the road to Utopia?

Again, using California as an example, which is dominated by Democrats - all that has happened is that the Democrats have sorted themselves into their own factions.

People naturally disagree with one another on issues, and they organize into coalitions based on their priorities.

What I don't like is that we have two parties which makes it too easy to split the electorate on fine-grained issues and is the reason we always have such close elections. Then people pick a team and are fiercely loyal. Yankees vs Red Sox, Dodgers vs Giants...

Other countries that have 3, 4, 5 parties and a Prime Minister appointed by the majority of Congress (as opposed to a separately elected President) seem to be forced to create coalition governments which makes the center more appealing.