Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein have an editorial at the NY Times: How The Republicans Broke Congress. Here’s how they start:
In the past three days, Republican leaders in the Senate scrambled to corral votes for a tax bill that the Joint Committee on Taxation said would add $1 trillion to the deficit — without holding any meaningful committee hearings. Worse, Republican leaders have been blunt about their motivation: to deliver on their promises to wealthy donors, and down the road, to use the leverage of huge deficits to cut and privatize Medicare and Social Security.
Congress no longer works the way it’s supposed to. But we’ve said that before.
emphasis added
It would perhaps be more accurate to say Congress now works exactly the way it is supposed to — for the .1%
Mann and Ornstein start by noting that they have given up on the both sides are to blame rationalization: it’s all the GOP, and it started before Trump arrived on the scene. They cite three things the GOP is doing. To summarize, with some comments of my own:
- Republicans have been working to demonize government and Congress starting in the 1990’s, fueling massive distrust of government. (Even earlier by my reckoning — Reagan’s government IS the problem meme. Also, thanks, New Gingrich! — You gave us language: a key mechanism of control.)
- The Obama effect — Republicans used every tool at their disposal to block everything Obama proposed. (They stole a Supreme court seat among other things. And now that they have the power, they’re busy erasing everything he did get past them.)
- The effects on the news media of the creation of the vast right-wing echo chamber of talk radio, FOX, etc. to pump out alternative facts — and now social media, which has been successfully weaponized. (Let’s not forget the mainstream media’s dedication to “one hand-other hand” news coverage, bothsiderism, and their willingness to be a conduit for legitimizing right wing fringe memes.)
I posted the following as a comment on their editorial — we’ll see if the Times runs it.
Let's cut through all the verbiage and get right down to where we are now. We have an authoritarian, anti-democratic government under the Republicans that is rapidly heading for full blown fascism. Here are the warning signs, taken from a poster at the Holocaust museum.
1) Powerful and continuing nationalism.
2) Disdain for human rights.
3) Identification of enemies as a unifying cause.
4) Supremacy of the military.
5) Rampant sexism.
6) Controlled mass media.
7) Obsession with national security.
8) Religion and government intertwined.
9) Corporate power protected.
10) Labor power suppressed.
11) Disdain for intellectuals and the arts.
12) Obsession with crime and punishment.
13) Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14) Fraudulent elections.
If there is anything on that list that the Republicans and Trump haven't embraced, it's not obvious to me. You can see some of that agenda being written into the tax 'reform' plan. It's not just about robbing from everyone else to make the rich richer - it's about deliberately targeting institutions and norms that would counteract the above list. Ending deductions for education, allowing churches to become political money conduits - it's all of a piece.
Mann and Ornstein end with a heartfelt plea.
...the imbalance today is striking, and frightening. Our democracy requires vigorous competition between two serious and ideologically distinct parties, both of which operate in the realm of truth, see governing as an essential and ennobling responsibility, and believe that the acceptance of republican institutions and democratic values define what it is to be an American. The Republican Party must reclaim its purpose.
emphasis added.
There’s one serious problem that Mann and Ornstein can’t bring themselves to face. You can’t be a Republican today if you embrace any of that. It’s a realization too many Democrats in leadership positions can’t allow themselves to openly admit.
It’s striking. For decades now, Republicans have been openly delegitimizing the Democratic Party and its policies and ideals. They refuse to treat it with any kind of respect, even as their own facade of morality crumbles. They are deliberately feeding the worst elements of American politics for power. Yet Democrats still keep trying to reach out to “the better angels of their nature” despite repeated demonstrations that the GOP have none.
There is no possible redemption for the GOP. They are what they have always wanted to be. The core value, perhaps the only value at the heart of conservatism is selfishness in the service of greed and paranoia. All the rest is just rationalizations.