There was a fine article at CNN yesterday about the pending retirement of Denny Heck, WA-10, and comments he made about the hatred he sees in politics now.
After he announced his plan to not run in 2020, per the article …
He said at the time that he felt "weary," and would "never understand how some of my colleagues" were able to "ignore or deny the President's unrelenting attack on a free press, his vicious character assassination of anyone who disagreed with him, and his demonstrably very distant relationship with the truth."
More below.
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Yet, Congressman Heck identifies no specifics about how the dialogue has eroded in this country. I am not sure why not. Identifying problems is an important step toward finding solutions.
Why is it so clear to me?
They ignore the problems first because they are not leaders. It’s no accident they march in lockstep. None are capable of leading, none are interested in leading. If they were, they’d have to do it outside of that party, because there is no place in it for leaders.
They can’t stray outside of the narrow lines of modern Republicanism, because there is no way to get elected if they do. Because of gerrymandering and the perfection of their electoral cheating, they don’t have to negotiate or compromise to get elected. But, more importantly, they cannot. They face very little in the way of accountability in politics, but what accountability they face is severe, and it comes in the primaries. If they collaborate with Democrats on any hot-button issue, they will be primaried by someone more virulent, and they have no prospect of winning. In fact, so many of their primaries are won by the most hate-filled, radical candidates. The litmus test for their ‘suitability for office’ isn’t qualification, and it certainly isn’t public spirit. It is nastiness. It is devotion to hatred and divisiveness. Even conciliatory remarks can be their downfall.
If there is ever to be a return to civility, to respect and goodwill in politics, it will necessarily follow the elimination of electoral cheating of every kind, the elimination of Citizens United, the elimination of the Electoral College, and defeats and repudiations of this hideous Republican model so staggering, that they understand it can never happen again. Only then will the possibility of negotiated solutions to public problems return. Right now the obstacle is systemic, and it is all of their making and doing. Make no mistake, our side is due its share of criticism and blame. We are not free from hate, either. But even with our many mistakes, miscalculations and strategic blunders, we’re not like that.
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From belinda ridgewood:
In Tom Tomorrow's way-too-true cartoon this morning, learn worried about a possible calamity at the "Cern Large Moron Collider". Pale Jenova added a corroborating observation, and learn wrapped it up with an explication of the Laws of Thermopolitics.
From El Mito:
Nominating this comment by durhammichael, from John M Webb’s Buttigieg is the Wrong Choice in 2020
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