No. of Recommendations: 4
Great post, WTH. Many good points.
This sure struck home:
Spite as a Form of Alternate Political Success -- In a climate where actually ENACTING new legislation is nearly impossible, sheer spite has emerged as the most common form of political victory pursued. Spite has an advantage over actual progress because politicians have discovered it is vastly easier to achieve, not only due to unique flaws built into the United States Constitution regarding representation but also mere parliamentary traditions adopted decades / centuries ago within the House and Senate that provide a minority of a minority to block consideration of bills or appointments in the Executive branch or the courts. The most intolerant politicians and the voters who support them have more frequently concluded over the past two decades that if they cannot WIN what they want via the voting booth, they will DAMN SURE ensure the actual winners won't get what they want either. And the system provides ample tools to make good on such threats.
Is our system too flawed/corrupt to be salvaged now? Too hard to make needed changes?
Clearly, for the worst politicians, this system is ideal for exploitation of low information voters and the oligarch class.
