The news today remains Trump’s unprecedented attempt to steal an election in which voters chose his opponents, Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, by close to 6 million votes, so far.
Thank you, HCR, for this historical and philosophical lesson on the need for a loyal opposition in politics. I hope Joe Biden is a shrewd principled politician as well as a caring person who isn’t Trump. I’m grateful there are intelligent people like you and your readers standing guard in this perilous moment. And it is perilous. At my grassroots level with family, friends, and neighbors, I’ve become a defiant participant in a cold Civil War. I’m no longer willing to suffer Fox News and Trump believers who are fearful misogynists, bigots, and racists with their heads down a very dark hole: who believe in voter fraud; who think the pandemic is a hoax and no one is dying, or no more people are dying than would from the flu; who deny climate change; who think a healthy stock market is a sign of a healthy national economy...and so on. (Border concentration camps are not OK.) I’m done listening to this nonsense and engaging with these people in my life-all registered Republicans or Non-Voters. At 70, I’m dedicated to political activism in the USA - specifically voter registration. Stacey Abrams is my role model. She took anger and turned it into positive action at the ballot box. There’s an important election coming up! GOTV 🧡 GA.🤞🏻 ❤️🤍💙
At a ripe old age of 82 I have learned a lot of history. I also have favorite history teachers and Heather Cox Richardson tops the list. She boils it down to the fundamentals as this gem and those before it illustrate. Thanks very much Professor Richardson.
The nation needs to hold these Republican legislators accountable for their failure to acknowledge that Biden won the election. How this would best be done I don't pretend to know, but if we all just "move on" as though they had done nothing wrong, we will betray the nation in the same way they have.
The Democrats and the Independents have to take off the gloves and just slap the crap out of the GOP operatives who are doing this deranged assault on democracy. I'm tired of hearing how "terrified" the Senate and House leaders are of mean tweets and temper tantrums in the Oval Office. I'm tired of hearing about self-described "Proud Boys" and paramilitary pretenders like "Oath Keepers" who fashion themselves as patriots while shredding the Constitution. And I am especially tired of hearing about how the Law of the Land applies only to the poor, the disenfranchised, and everyone other than the GOP.
The only election that was rigged -- by Russia, no less -- happened in 2016. Four years we listened to "you lost, get over it." Four years we watched in shock and dismay as one after another of our institutions was destroyed or seriously damaged from within by GOP loyalists and partisan interference. Four years we found reason after reason, proof after proof, that the fellow squatting in the Oval Office was more interested in his own fortunes than those of the general public.
And now, for 9 months, we've watched as this grotesque incompetence by GOP operatives from the top to the bottom has resulted in the deaths of more than one quarter million citizens, from a virus that didn't have to be so deadly -- and by comparison, when Ebola was a global threat, the Administration was able to keep the death toll to FOUR as the outbreak was handled and ended.
The Democrats have got to learn that when things of value are being held for ransom, efforts to negotiate are seen by the malign actors as cowardice and capitulation.
Rise up. Take a firm stand for the Rule of Law, The Republic of the United States of America, and functioning democracy.
The position of Trump now indicates that he will push the Republican Party over the cliff to get his way if he can, tarring them with the same brush and feathering them with his feathers as he goes down the drain of direct power. He is loosing bit by bit his finger-tip grip on the cliff face and risks sliding into oblivion but will insist on the GOP being tied on a mountaineer's rope behind him. He could now possibly accept the inevitable and run a RumpTrump GOP from behind cell bars on Rykers Island for a while, as would any self respecting "capone-ic" gangster caught by the Feds and NYAG by "his short and curlies" for his taxes and financial affaires while hoping he can raise enough cash to replace Fox's influence and be "politically untouchable" thus avoiding the charge of Treason and consequent banishment. OR, he could pardon himself denounces his debts, sells his buildings around the world to foreign "friends" and hide behind a massive wall of lawyers in his Florida compound while he negotiates a truce with Biden.
If the Republican Party broke up seperating the Orcs from the Rinos, the Trumpian part of the GOP would still represent an important part... not necessarily the majority... of their electorate and could be a legitimate part of a multi-party political environment. You can't tell them that they can't hold and express their opinions......just because they have tried to do it to you. They have every right in a democracy not to agree with you. What is wrong is their ability to impose their will and their attempt to perpetuate this imposition and deny the basic rights of others and effectively destroy the system.
In a democracy it is equality before the law, of opportunity and of access to the government, its programs and its agencies, freedom for all of thought and speech, of cultural and political expression, of organization and opposition, of faith, of reunion, of movement and of occupation that must be guarranteed by the Constitution, the government and the law within the bounds of loyalty to the Nation and the prohibition of incitation to hate and violence.
What is clear however is that we have been too nice about the informal nature of the rules necessary and the powers that we have left to politicians to alter the rules and game the system, render it non-operative and destroy the fundamental values on which it is based. In all games a strict adherence to non-violable rules is fundamental to the correct functioning of the game. The players do not set the rules or decide whether they'll repect them and the obligations they impose as they are going along regardless of the impact on the other players and the nature of the game.
In a 2 party system, the idea of a governing party and a loyal opposition is fine except when one or both figure that they can gain advantage by chicanery, political manoeuvre or corruption and falsify the results that can be reasonably expected from an electoral battle of visions, intelligence, ideas, competencies and achievements. When this happrens, the rules need to be significantly "harder and faster" and be supported by policing and punishment that would discourage all further malfeasance. If you can't trust the 2 to abide by the rules, then you need to dilute their power and multiply their number. Thus you impose an imperious necessity to discuss and arrive at more consensual approaches which reflect truly what the majority of the people want without necessarily causing unbearable dissatisfaction on the part of minority opinion.
There will be a way to break McConnell's chokehold even if the Republicans maintain a Senate majority. To quote a post on FB by Linda Brown: "Even if the Democrats don’t win control of the Senate, there is a legal, Constitutional way to strip Mitch McConnell of his power for good: priority recognition.
According to Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. The Majority Leader is not a position that exists anywhere in the Constitution. The reason that the Majority Leader has near-dictatorial powers to control floor votes is because of a tradition that dates back to 1937. The tradition is that the Vice President gives the floor leaders priority recognition. Most notably, this is not a rule in the Senate.
As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris could give any senator priority recognition. That senator could then decide on all legislation that is brought before the entire Senate. Even with a minority in the Senate, Vice President Harris could simply give Chuck Schumer priority recognition. He could decide what is voted on and what isn’t.
This would change everything. Without Mitch McConnell to hide behind, the moderate Republican Senators would be forced to vote down every Cabinet member, bill, resolution, everything that Harris would want done. Without McConnell, anything even remotely popular with at least two senators would pass. Including getting a cabinet assembled.
I see some debate as to what the Senate rules do and due not permit. I encourage everyone to read this article on the actual written rules and why the Majority Leader is so powerful today. It should be noted, however, unlike the House of Representatives, a large part of the Senate rules is tradition. As Mitch McConnell will gladly tell you, tradition is not written rule.
Also, This wouldn’t be the first time Schumer has done something like this. And yes, while there’s the possibility of rule changes, they cannot change the Constitution. At the end of the day, Madame Vice President Harris is President of the Senate. Period. Not Mitch McConnell."
Ms.Brown is correct - this chokehold stands on a mere custom introduced in 1937.
Obama would not have wanted the uproar this attack on the Republican Party would have caused. One has to pick the battles for the long term outcome of a war. And, this what-about game leads us no where. We need to do it now. Tens of thousands of lives are at stake now. They weren't then.
Obama missed the battle...and lost the war. Now the triumphant victor needs to be thrown back on the ropes and booted out of the ring by the resurgent resistance.
Yes, in some ways it would have been better to address the problem head-on earlier rather than later. But that's Monday morning quarter-backing. I still feel Merrick Garland should be on the Supreme Court and McConnell was in Contempt of the Constitution by not giving his nomination a hearing.
Sometimes Obama's niavity staggers belief. He could have done with a good seminar on Macchiaveli's "Prince" . Also when you read of how the VP position has been considered in the past...inactivity was not unacceptable, even imposed!
Thank you. I have never understood how McConnell maintains such a chokehold on our political process and this explains it. Omg. “Tradition”!?!? GET RID OF HIM!
You are quite right that lots of ways the Senate has been operating are due to self-made rules (Constitutionally based) and traditions (lacking such basis). A number of us on this thread are old enough to remember that if you wanted to filibuster a bill, you actually had to hold the Senate floor rather than simply indicate your intention to do so. Another tradition gone with the wind was the deference paid to "blue slips," the approval (or lack of same) for appointments from same-state Senators--used and abused by both parties. However, much as I would wish your scenario to be true, the link you provided states Garner's precedent gave priority first to the Majority Leader and then to the Minority Leader. I am all for playing dirty at this point, and I do not underestimate Schumer's willingness to get the rules and traditions bent his way. But is it politically savvy to try to overturn this precedent at this point? It is unfortunately easy to imagine another Pence sitting in the Senate President's chair.
Simply giving the same rights to the leader of the president's party is not enough. There should be a new system, that does some kind of rotation or turn taking, and privileges addressing any legislation from the House, so that most senators will find it in their interest to support the change. No one should have a chokehold. It has been voter suppression against the whole senate.
There are many bi-cameral systems that only allow the more representative "lower" House to originate texts of law and an obligation is imposed on the "upper" , less representative House to consider them, reject them or modify them befor the Lower House proceeds according to it's own will. Some systems also allocated specific time for the opposition to introduce any motion to its liking for consideration by the Houses.
It doesn't take away McConnell's majority! It would seem to be similar to the tradition in the UK parliament that Government "motions" take precedence over all other business...but this was confounded several times recently in the Brexit" debates to stop the government imposing its will and effectively and effectively permitted the imposition of the will of the Parliament on the Executive.
Stuart, this is an excellent assessment, but you are assuming one thing in your opening paragraph that I think is a fallacy: that the Gutlessly Oleaginous Party is an unwilling accomplice to what is now happening. They are all in with the criminal pretending to be the executive. Not even the ever-faithfully-unfaithful Susan Collins is making noise about telling Drumpf it is time to leave. I wonder how far Moscow Mitch and his Malicious Minions will go in their decision to destroy democracy, the economy, and the international reputation of the USA, because they sure are doing a great job at all three of the things right now. Drumpf cannot do this on his own and his desperation in the face of mounting potential indictments is only part of this story: his enablers and henchmen in Congress actually do hold the power and could do something but they are not--so apparently they want this chaos to continue because it suits their purposes.
To my mind McConnell used Trump...yes! His goal is to keep the power he has and i don't think that indicates a particularly detailed Agenda...rather a determination to avoid or annul the political consequences of the demographics of the last century or more. I wouldn't credit him with a greater vision than that... he relies on the Trumps of this world for that. McConnell will now be looking to avoid too much noise and confusion with the Biden transition and will do everything necessary to "slide around" Trump's departure while maintaining the allegeance of at least 73 million Americans if he can...delicate but achievable in his mind using public silence and private manipulation.
Your last 2 paragraphs lay it out very nicely. We have ignored past opportunities to shore up the rules of the game. What's going to be difficult now is the fact that nearly half the country and their representatives don't give a damn about rules so resetting is going to be both challenging and painful. Where to start? How to start? Government at the local levels is no less corrupt than government at the top.The fact that the electorate has legitimized conspiracy theororists by electing them is going to require some serious undoing.
Heard an expert guest on CNN or MSNBC today talk about how Germany, France and UK have built in consequences to law violations by executive and other branches of government (e.g. ignoring subpoenas, not revealing income tax or financial documents) with teeth. The USA has, until now, relied on the assumption of honor. He (sorry, don't remember who) recommends a non-partisan (NOT bi-partisan) commission to comb through all our Constitutional requirements, and those created since, to ascribe procedures and punishments for each.
Mind you...we have to be very careful not to label as "conspiratorial" any opinion that we don't like and throughout the world i think there is a growing tendency to follow this intolerant path which stops all possible discussion, negotiation and consensual solution. Dictatorship of the dominant opinion, the politically correct follows ..and of course its consequently logical political ramifications.
I agree. I wasn't very clear. There is currently at least one newly elected member of Congress who openly support the "Q" conspiracy movement. Q is dangerous by virtue of the fact that Q spits out words/phrases and the followers interpret how they choose then spread their interpretation broadly. Not sure if you've seen this article.
There is a great difference between absurdity and opinion...perhaps a question of degree and point of view..but this sort of thing should be heard ...yes!...but prosecuted for incitement to violence and hatred, not to mention defamation etc.
Excellent essay, Stuart. Yes, the government needs reform so that the best of its "traditions" become law based on equality before the law. It will take statesmen not politicians to achieve this. And, beyond pure chicanery lies cultism. Read this article in the New Republic yesterday.
To quote "...that the cruelty and contempt are not just the essential ingredients of Trumpism but exactly what Republican voters hunger for" Hope we can find the countermeasures for all this rather than have the mountaineer's rope not just around the Republican Party but the Constitution as well as it plummets into the black abyss of despair. Years ago I heard Bernard Haitink conduct the Boston Symphony in the Shostakovich 13th Symphony written during WWII when Shostakovich was suffering from depression. For a hour Haitink held us over this llarge black abyss but never dropped us. It was one of the most profound performances I've ever experienced.
My morning is Sir Andras Schiff playing the French Suites of Bach. Bach keeps you believing in the beauty in this world and its promise of better things to come. Next I'll listen to the Bach Mass in B minor with John Nelson conducting at Notre Dame Paris. As a member of the Aspen Festival Orchestra, I had the great privilege of performing the Mass in B minor under John Nelson the very first time he conducted it. Used the Kyrie as my wedding processional because it was both solemn and joyful.
I'd like to hear more about your Aspen experiences. My only experience with orchestras other than listening has been with my niece who was a child prodigy, piano soloist with multiple Canadian orchestras and some American before stopping and teaching literature instead.
My first "career" was as a classical violinist. I won the Womens' Association of the St. Louis Symphony Aspen Prize for a full scholarship to study and perform at the Aspen Music Festival for nine weeks in that gorgeous setting in the Rockies, a major cusp point in my life. That turned into three summers at what is essentially Juilliard's Summer School with primarily Juilliard faculty and quite a number of fantastic concert artists. My first audition was rather daunting for a girl from Kansas when the room was filled with artists who I knew from their recordings like half the Juilliard String Quartet. Studied violin with Charles Treger, the only American winner of the Wienawski competition. I had chamber music with Claus Adam, the cellist of the Juilliard Quartet one summer and Mischa Mischakoff, Toscanni's concertmaster, the first summer. Aspen is a renaissance town with the Institute of Humanistic Studies and Center of the Eye photography institute with photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson. And, of course, it's natural beauty at 7,900 feet above sea level is spectacular. The Festival and Chamber orchestras rehearsed in the huge tent where the performances took place. Performing within the orchestra is very different from being in the audience and always an amazing experience with this caliber of orchestra. Remember playing the Beethoven 7th Symphony (this was the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth -- yes, 50 years ago now) and in the last movement literally felt like my chair was four feet off the ground and I was flying. Absolutely exhilarating. Going back to the Mass in the B minor. I was sitting on the second desk of first violins. In the Credo, the bass line slowly and inexorably descends into hell. It was so spiritually moving that when I looked across the orchestra at the string bass section I hallucinated that they were literally standing in coffins. I continued playing but it was getting more and more difficult. Fortunately, the Resurrection started and every thing was glorious again. Those moments don't happen very often, but when they do you know why you are a musician. Especially with composers like Bach and Beethoven, these masters can take you into what I call the Universal Plane where concepts like Omnipresence are very simple to understand.
From studies on the brain of musicians they find that playing a musical instrument is like giving the brain a total body workout. It lights up every part of the brain. So, studying musical instrument should be part of every child's education because of the positive traits it helps develop..
Probably more than you wanted to know but it was most enjoyable to remminisce about those glorious three summers. Now back to listening to the Mass -- the Credo is next!
More parties, diluting the power of the one "in power" would be preferable to controlling them by "policing and punishment." (And it's Rikers Island, not Rykers)
You still need to make sure the rules are respected in both letter and spirit. Having more players renders the game more complex but not necessarily more just or less corrupt otherwise!...and on the Islands around the estuary of the Hudson...either Ellis or RIkers i only have second-hand experience and not the penetrative power of Lord Howe and his Fleet!
If Senators Sasse and Romney are serious, they should vote with the Democrats in the Senate, giving them a majority in that House. Otherwise they just serve as a cosmetic for the Republican Party, which is complicit in the breaking down of democracy in America which HCR describes.
Historically, if the Republicans are allowed to get away with it, it will be an American tragedy even greater than the failure of Reconstruction.
My lesson from today's Letter is that it is the gerrymandering that has caused the two parties to go to the extreme right in particular but also farther to the left. My assumption was it was the two party system itself that eventually moves members of the parties to the extremes and hollows out the middle. The middle, the Independents, now represent 36% of the electorate with Republicans at 31% and Democrats at 31% in the latest Gallup poll. But, what about the rest of the world where authoritarianism is on the rise in general. They don't have gerrymandered states, do they? Do like the history of the loyal opposition. Ranked choice voting would take care of some of these issue. I keep feeling we aren't thinking about this at a high enough level. We're just putting patches on a few things but the underlying problems are festering and getting more serious.
Read Richard Hofstadter's "The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt" (read the version in American Scholar, it's more complete). It'sbeen going on a long time. The three best books on how it all happened are by my friend Rick Perlstein: "Before the Storm" (the Goldwater movement and election of 1964); "Nixonland" (you know who), and "The Invisible Bridge" (Reagan and Reaganism). Well written and readable, highly informative, and you will understand "what happened to the Republican Party" and if you include Hofstadter, you'll know they didn't have to move all that far to become what they are now.
Hofstadter brings up Theodore Adorno's 1949 study, The Authoritarian Personality. Adorno, who was a refugee from Germany, knew fascism and fascists when he saw them.
Money quote: "The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
And an interesting quote from Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 campaign, which is even more relevant today: “The strange alchemy of time, has somehow converted the Democrats into the truly conservative party of this country — the party dedicated to conserving all that is best, and building solidly and safely on these foundations.”
Hello - May we bring the institutions of "realpolitik" to the peering into the "pseudo-conservative"?
Thank you for:
Money quote: "The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
The growing practice and practitioners of pseudo-conservativism are now citizens who overtly and covertly undermine and degrade the institutions of citizenship. The pseudo-conservative citizen, in the pursuit of self-interest in any practical way possible - a realpolitik stance - is destroying the institutions and institutional ecology underlying citizenship.
Is this a fair understanding of Hofstadter's constructions and is it a fair statement of the successful campaign of the party of Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, Gingrich and McConnell? (And of the political arm of Koch Industries?)
Thank you for the detailed notes, quotes and links.
I’ve been reading about and even occasionally listening to Rick Perlstein. He’s done a great service with his books. Thank you for all your helpful leads. 🙏🏻 ❤️🤍💙
Gerrymandering is neither just a tool used very successfully by the GOP (as the Democrats do it somewhat lackadasically too) nor has it been restricted to the USA despite the origins of the word coming from the iniquitous practices of a particular US Senator. In the UK there is significant over representation on the part of the Labour Party due to inequality in the size of circumscriptions for instance. There is a strong movement towards equal sized constituencies and, as it strongly favours the current Conservative government, is likely to be put in place. The drawing of the lines is however in the hands of an apolitical body.
Gerrymandering is a problem, but the Senatorial over-representation of low population, Republican states is far worse. When the Constitution was written, the largest state had less than 13 times as many people as the smallest. Today, the largest state has nearly 70 times as many people as the smallest. The smallest states also have the highest proportion of white voters. If that weren't enough, Trump is making yet another attempt to leave undocumented immigrants out of census. As if states won't incur cost of providing education, medical care etc. to these mostly hard working people.
The other factor which pushes for partisan polarization is the low voter turnout at primary elections--most often in the range of 10-25% of eligible voters. Those who do show up tend to have strong commitments to particular local or personal issues, and/or strong partisan loyalties. So, especially when combined with politically gerrymandered districts, primary candidates usually choose to out-Right wing (or -Left wing) their competitors to have a chance in the primary. For a long period of time, the rule of thumb was that they then had to "move to the center" to be successful in the broader, better attended general election. Dark money backing, targeted ads and communication bubbles have reduced the needs to do so now.
When asked what my party is, I reply Synergist Party. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Don't focus on splitting the pie, make a bigger pie! I'm not going to be put into one of the two little boxes. Again, I'm an AND person not a OR bifurcater. Have thought of writing a platform for a Synergist Party. Maybe an interesting exercise as an assignment for one of Heather's classes.
“this attempt of Republican leaders to delegitimize the Democratic Party is an assault on our democracy”. However, can we agree that the Republican Party, as it is currently constituted, should be delegitimized because of its decades-long assault on our democracy, specifically its assault on elections and voting?
I would be happy to see a new party formed from the never-Trumpers, the Lincoln Project, RVAT, and other conservatives who fled the Republican Party. The Republican brand is too badly tarnished to be salvaged.
Trump obfuscates on the election to buy time. He needs to get his ducks in a row since eh is about to meet the consequences of his behavior for the past 4 years. The extent of which is not know but he faces at the very least, extensive debt and several investigations that he cannot pardon or have pardoned away. The cartoons showing him wreaking everything in the room are all too accurate. The damage he has done to our democracy will leave it scarred but not broken. He will leave behind many people who want a savior but got a conman and are unwilling to open their eyes to the destruction he has wrought upon them. He is going out as he came in, a torrent of chaos, a storm of untruth. We either learn the lessons of the time or are doomed to repeat them. I too am older and may not see many more presidents. Hopefully I never see another like this one.
Has it occurred to anyone in this exchange that he is NOT having a trantrum, but is DELIBERATELY traying to leave only wreakage behind, to make sure that Biden becomes a wek president who spends his single term with repair, at best? Two policies here: overturn the election and take power, or scorched earth.
I agree. Trump is flailing about because from a characterological point of view he can't admit being a loser. And he will burn the house down rather than admit he can't keep it any longer. BUT, all of his willing supporters (the ones with power, whether in or out of government) are quite clear on the political gains that come from hamstringing a Biden administration. Trump's an evil clown, and the oligarchs and their minions may well dump him if he loses clout, but the efforts undercut any threats to their powers is deadly serious.
Honestly, I've been telling people for months now that we're going to have to do something more...I'm just not sure what, beyond shouting, writing letters, cursing and wishing the GOP held to what I consider to be pro democracy. I'm discouraged by this stuff. Thanks for all you do Heather. I'm sure I'd be in a basket without your letters.
What's going to happen is the fight continues. All the promises of ponies and chocolate on January 21 were made by people who fail to understand the situation.
What it needs is for 10 million people to converge peacefully on Washington in an organized fashion to support democracy and to surround all political institutions, blocking everything until the Trump Orcdom collapses under the weight of its own massive and growing ineptitude, iniquities, irrelevance and isolation.
I know...That is precisely what I was thinking...I'm able, but it's scary with the pandemic raging. Now we know what our service members were called on to do...don't we?
But you know what would happen then - the same thing we saw here in Minneapolis six months ago: the rallies would quickly be infiltrated by people who only want to foment chaos and violence. They would smash windows and set fires, ratchet up the rhetoric of hatred, and would consider it a job well done if they provoke rioting and violence.
That's why i say "organized and peacefull" . It requires the "policing" of the protest by the organizers (just ask the unions in France...they know how to do it). It also requires cooperation with the Mayor and his Chief of police; frankness and trust on both sides. That way you give no excuse to the Brownshirts or violent anarchists of any colour. If you don't police it in your own defense ...you lose it.
I am in general agreement with the crew here, but I wish people wouldn't call ANYONE names. I have hated it when Trump makes up names for people he dislikes and I think it is disrespectful. When we make up names for Trump and McConnell and their adherents, we are no better. To work with people, to bridge gaps, name-calling, however tempting it is, doesn't aid in genuine communication and problem-solving. It also gives our kids the idea that it's okay. Just sayin' (Don't think I am too much of a goody-goody. I have let loose language that would befit a pirate, but think it isn't useful in public discourse.)
I appreciate Heather's consistent respectful language, even in the midst of dissecting repugnant behaviour. We can take a page from her book. (Thanks, Heather.)
The names are used to create short emotion-packed labels to replace the more complicated aspects of any person viewed as an opponent, and helps to turn that opponent into an enemy. These labels are cheap forms of ad hominum arguments, one of the classic logical falacies. More importantly, they associate the enemy with tbe emotional content of the label. This fits with the procedure of classical conditioning (or Pavlovian conditioning). The labels become conditioned stimuli which elicit a strong emotional response from the listener. For example, after hearing repeated pairings of "Hilllary" and "crooked," one hears "Hillary" and immediately thinks "crooked." The whole impeachment process took place because Trump wanted to apply the same label to Biden.
Thanks for asking! Trump was never particularly interested that Ukraine actually investigate the Bidens, he only wanted Ukraine to announce that it was investigating the Biden and his son so he could pin a label like "Crooked Joe" on him. This was his motivation to dangle the quid pro quo of the Burisma investigation in return for both the release of the held funds and a face-to-face meeting. As it was, he had to settle for the "Sleepy Joe" label, which probably less effective. If Biden was being investigated anywhere, he could have returned to the "Lock him up!" chant/cheer, which would have added additional spice to his pep rallies. I hope this helps.
Calling him the Asswipe Occupying the White House is much more to type than his actual name, which I hate to even mention because it is more disgusting than used toilet paper.
Thanks Ralph. I am sad, but good. My husband in our home, a bubble with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters, Big family video call every Sunday and lots of close friends. All of my close friends and family are like minded, so I have it much better than many other people. 73 million people who want 45 to stay in office does feel overwhelming. But I would rather know what is going on than pretend it is okay. I have ratcheted down my news to this newsletter, WAPO, NYT and The Arizona Republic. That is more than enough information. You take care as well.
Thank you, Linda. My wife and I are both quietly retired, so staying at home is not that much of a change. Nevertheless, it's a difficult period for everyone. Life just feels different, and then the surreal political events we have been experiencing make everything feel tentative and full of doubt. Add in climate change and this just seems like a strange time in history.
Life certainly does feel different. A year ago I was traveling through Europe, having the best time and planning how to get my granddaughters to Germany for the Christmas Festivals this year. And now instead we only see each other in their backyard from a distance. And with COVID testing I am hoping for hugs from them for Christmas. Wow the world changed.
Naw, we knew they would keep pulling the big guns out the more they understood they’d lost. Like a child who will use every manipulation skill in the books even in the face of defeat. He and they are toast and they know it. The issue is that his zombie cultist followers have drank the cool aid and we’ll have to contend with them. That’ll be fun. 🙄
I'm beginning to wonder where the Democrats are. Republicans are silent, but I don't hear enough noise from Dems. They need to literally drag Ms Murphy out of her office and get her to explain why she's single-handedly holding up the beginnings of the transfer. You know she'll be a no show, even if served with a subpoena. When will we take to the streets to make the repubs do what's right? I'm just sick and tired of it all! And, maybe that's the point...wear them down. I may be "sick and tired", but there's still a lot of anger in this old body to physically stand for what's right!
You and I both know damn well she will not show for the hearing, even if there's a subpoena. I can't imagine how much kool-aid she drank to let this go on, given the numbers dying everyday due to Covid. She's catching up to a level of dislike I have for McConnell and Graham and others.
Someone by the name of Linda Brown posted this on the Unofficial Healther Cox Richardson Facebook page. If this is true and doable, it would be consistent with the philosophy of originalism that the majority of SCOTUS justices claim to justify their decisions:
Even if the Democrats don’t win control of the Senate, there is a legal, Constitutional way to strip Mitch McConnell of his power for good: priority recognition.
According to Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. The Majority Leader is not a position that exists anywhere in the Constitution. The reason that the Majority Leader has near-dictatorial powers to control floor votes is because of a tradition that dates back to 1937. The tradition is that the Vice President gives the floor leaders priority recognition. Most notably, this is not a rule in the Senate.
As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris could give any senator priority recognition. That senator could then decide on all legislation that is brought before the entire Senate. Even with a minority in the Senate, Vice President Harris could simply give Chuck Schumer priority recognition. He could decide what is voted on and what isn’t.
This would change everything. Without Mitch McConnell to hide behind, the moderate Republican Senators would be forced to vote down every Cabinet member, bill, resolution, everything that Harris would want done. Without McConnell, anything even remotely popular with at least two senators would pass. Including getting a cabinet assembled.
I see some debate as to what the Senate rules do and due not permit. I encourage everyone to read this on the actual written rules and why the Majority Leader is so powerful today. It should be noted, however, unlike the House of Representatives, a large part of the Senate rules is tradition. As Mitch McConnell will gladly tell you, tradition is not written rule.
Also, This wouldn’t be the first time Schumer has done something like this. And yes, while there’s the possibility of rule changes, they cannot change the Constitution. At the end of the day, Madame Vice President Harris is President of the Senate. Period. Not Mitch McConnell.
Joan Friedman also posted this Linda Brown Facebook post one hour before you, in reply to Stuart Attewell’s post 6 hours earlier. So FYI there is a long thread there of interesting responses.
I'm having trouble finding the posts you reference. Twitter or Facebook. Can you point me/us to them? Also, there may be a catch about "unanimous approval" that wasn't addressed in the post that I saw.
Substack is sadly limited with search functions, not to mention edit. But if you select Top First for the order of comments, near the top, you’ll find Stuart Attewell’s post followed by Joan Friedman’s.
I used to believe that the majority of people, including people in government service, were inherently good, that they possessed morals and a conscience. However, I am no longer a “Pollyanna” when it comes to politics. I would love to believe the congressmen from Michigan when they say “whoever wins Michigan wins the electoral votes”, but I just can’t. When I see them speak these words, or see them in print, all I see/hear is Lindsey Graham stating “Mark my words, Republicans will never appoint a Supreme Court Justice in an election year”. I find it interesting that in their statement they told us what THEY said, but did not give any mention of what tRump said or offered to them. I live in Michigan, and am afraid that they will find a “way” to appoint republican electors.
I naively believed our governmental infrastructure was stronger than it turned out to be. Through every law- or norm-breaking Trump and/or action Republican action, I thought oh there’s a backstop for this, checks and balances you know. Turns out there isn’t.
I would like you to make a distinction between elected people in government and public employees. As a long time government employee, I have met many people in government service who possess morals and a conscience.
Thank you, HCR, for this historical and philosophical lesson on the need for a loyal opposition in politics. I hope Joe Biden is a shrewd principled politician as well as a caring person who isn’t Trump. I’m grateful there are intelligent people like you and your readers standing guard in this perilous moment. And it is perilous. At my grassroots level with family, friends, and neighbors, I’ve become a defiant participant in a cold Civil War. I’m no longer willing to suffer Fox News and Trump believers who are fearful misogynists, bigots, and racists with their heads down a very dark hole: who believe in voter fraud; who think the pandemic is a hoax and no one is dying, or no more people are dying than would from the flu; who deny climate change; who think a healthy stock market is a sign of a healthy national economy...and so on. (Border concentration camps are not OK.) I’m done listening to this nonsense and engaging with these people in my life-all registered Republicans or Non-Voters. At 70, I’m dedicated to political activism in the USA - specifically voter registration. Stacey Abrams is my role model. She took anger and turned it into positive action at the ballot box. There’s an important election coming up! GOTV 🧡 GA.🤞🏻 ❤️🤍💙
Hello Deborah - Thank you for: "At my grassroots level with family, friends, and neighbors, I’ve become a defiant participant in a cold Civil War."
You might find a kindred voice in Rebecca Solnit today:
https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-on-not-meeting-nazis-halfway/
Thank you so much.
At a ripe old age of 82 I have learned a lot of history. I also have favorite history teachers and Heather Cox Richardson tops the list. She boils it down to the fundamentals as this gem and those before it illustrate. Thanks very much Professor Richardson.
I was thinking the same thing.
The nation needs to hold these Republican legislators accountable for their failure to acknowledge that Biden won the election. How this would best be done I don't pretend to know, but if we all just "move on" as though they had done nothing wrong, we will betray the nation in the same way they have.
The Democrats and the Independents have to take off the gloves and just slap the crap out of the GOP operatives who are doing this deranged assault on democracy. I'm tired of hearing how "terrified" the Senate and House leaders are of mean tweets and temper tantrums in the Oval Office. I'm tired of hearing about self-described "Proud Boys" and paramilitary pretenders like "Oath Keepers" who fashion themselves as patriots while shredding the Constitution. And I am especially tired of hearing about how the Law of the Land applies only to the poor, the disenfranchised, and everyone other than the GOP.
The only election that was rigged -- by Russia, no less -- happened in 2016. Four years we listened to "you lost, get over it." Four years we watched in shock and dismay as one after another of our institutions was destroyed or seriously damaged from within by GOP loyalists and partisan interference. Four years we found reason after reason, proof after proof, that the fellow squatting in the Oval Office was more interested in his own fortunes than those of the general public.
And now, for 9 months, we've watched as this grotesque incompetence by GOP operatives from the top to the bottom has resulted in the deaths of more than one quarter million citizens, from a virus that didn't have to be so deadly -- and by comparison, when Ebola was a global threat, the Administration was able to keep the death toll to FOUR as the outbreak was handled and ended.
The Democrats have got to learn that when things of value are being held for ransom, efforts to negotiate are seen by the malign actors as cowardice and capitulation.
Rise up. Take a firm stand for the Rule of Law, The Republic of the United States of America, and functioning democracy.
Before it's too late.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
"What she said"!
The position of Trump now indicates that he will push the Republican Party over the cliff to get his way if he can, tarring them with the same brush and feathering them with his feathers as he goes down the drain of direct power. He is loosing bit by bit his finger-tip grip on the cliff face and risks sliding into oblivion but will insist on the GOP being tied on a mountaineer's rope behind him. He could now possibly accept the inevitable and run a RumpTrump GOP from behind cell bars on Rykers Island for a while, as would any self respecting "capone-ic" gangster caught by the Feds and NYAG by "his short and curlies" for his taxes and financial affaires while hoping he can raise enough cash to replace Fox's influence and be "politically untouchable" thus avoiding the charge of Treason and consequent banishment. OR, he could pardon himself denounces his debts, sells his buildings around the world to foreign "friends" and hide behind a massive wall of lawyers in his Florida compound while he negotiates a truce with Biden.
If the Republican Party broke up seperating the Orcs from the Rinos, the Trumpian part of the GOP would still represent an important part... not necessarily the majority... of their electorate and could be a legitimate part of a multi-party political environment. You can't tell them that they can't hold and express their opinions......just because they have tried to do it to you. They have every right in a democracy not to agree with you. What is wrong is their ability to impose their will and their attempt to perpetuate this imposition and deny the basic rights of others and effectively destroy the system.
In a democracy it is equality before the law, of opportunity and of access to the government, its programs and its agencies, freedom for all of thought and speech, of cultural and political expression, of organization and opposition, of faith, of reunion, of movement and of occupation that must be guarranteed by the Constitution, the government and the law within the bounds of loyalty to the Nation and the prohibition of incitation to hate and violence.
What is clear however is that we have been too nice about the informal nature of the rules necessary and the powers that we have left to politicians to alter the rules and game the system, render it non-operative and destroy the fundamental values on which it is based. In all games a strict adherence to non-violable rules is fundamental to the correct functioning of the game. The players do not set the rules or decide whether they'll repect them and the obligations they impose as they are going along regardless of the impact on the other players and the nature of the game.
In a 2 party system, the idea of a governing party and a loyal opposition is fine except when one or both figure that they can gain advantage by chicanery, political manoeuvre or corruption and falsify the results that can be reasonably expected from an electoral battle of visions, intelligence, ideas, competencies and achievements. When this happrens, the rules need to be significantly "harder and faster" and be supported by policing and punishment that would discourage all further malfeasance. If you can't trust the 2 to abide by the rules, then you need to dilute their power and multiply their number. Thus you impose an imperious necessity to discuss and arrive at more consensual approaches which reflect truly what the majority of the people want without necessarily causing unbearable dissatisfaction on the part of minority opinion.
There will be a way to break McConnell's chokehold even if the Republicans maintain a Senate majority. To quote a post on FB by Linda Brown: "Even if the Democrats don’t win control of the Senate, there is a legal, Constitutional way to strip Mitch McConnell of his power for good: priority recognition.
According to Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. The Majority Leader is not a position that exists anywhere in the Constitution. The reason that the Majority Leader has near-dictatorial powers to control floor votes is because of a tradition that dates back to 1937. The tradition is that the Vice President gives the floor leaders priority recognition. Most notably, this is not a rule in the Senate.
As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris could give any senator priority recognition. That senator could then decide on all legislation that is brought before the entire Senate. Even with a minority in the Senate, Vice President Harris could simply give Chuck Schumer priority recognition. He could decide what is voted on and what isn’t.
This would change everything. Without Mitch McConnell to hide behind, the moderate Republican Senators would be forced to vote down every Cabinet member, bill, resolution, everything that Harris would want done. Without McConnell, anything even remotely popular with at least two senators would pass. Including getting a cabinet assembled.
I see some debate as to what the Senate rules do and due not permit. I encourage everyone to read this article on the actual written rules and why the Majority Leader is so powerful today. It should be noted, however, unlike the House of Representatives, a large part of the Senate rules is tradition. As Mitch McConnell will gladly tell you, tradition is not written rule.
Also, This wouldn’t be the first time Schumer has done something like this. And yes, while there’s the possibility of rule changes, they cannot change the Constitution. At the end of the day, Madame Vice President Harris is President of the Senate. Period. Not Mitch McConnell."
Ms.Brown is correct - this chokehold stands on a mere custom introduced in 1937.
https://www.senate.gov/reference/Sessions/Traditions/Priority_recognition.htm
Given the past, present and clearly intended future abuse of this custom by McC, VP Harris would be wise to adopt a different custom.
That is good to hear but begs the question WHY DIDN’T BIDEN DO THAT WHEN OBAMA WAS BEING OBSTRUCTED BY MOSCOW MITCH?
Obama would not have wanted the uproar this attack on the Republican Party would have caused. One has to pick the battles for the long term outcome of a war. And, this what-about game leads us no where. We need to do it now. Tens of thousands of lives are at stake now. They weren't then.
Obama missed the battle...and lost the war. Now the triumphant victor needs to be thrown back on the ropes and booted out of the ring by the resurgent resistance.
Yes, in some ways it would have been better to address the problem head-on earlier rather than later. But that's Monday morning quarter-backing. I still feel Merrick Garland should be on the Supreme Court and McConnell was in Contempt of the Constitution by not giving his nomination a hearing.
It ain't finished yet. What to do about the SCOTUS will be back in the news very quickly.
Sometimes Obama's niavity staggers belief. He could have done with a good seminar on Macchiaveli's "Prince" . Also when you read of how the VP position has been considered in the past...inactivity was not unacceptable, even imposed!
Thank you. I have never understood how McConnell maintains such a chokehold on our political process and this explains it. Omg. “Tradition”!?!? GET RID OF HIM!
Joan, You just made my day! Another tradition .... and a good one to break.
My day too. Why isn’t this published more. And I would think it would give all the rep senators incentive to buddy up to President and VP elect
As HCR would say, any who like this idea can "give it oxygen" by spreading it on social media and emails to politicians.
I just sent an email to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
If anyone can get things done, and relevant, correct information into the mainstream media, it's Rachel!! Love her!
Yes!
Excellent!!! May I copy and post? This is the most hopeful I have been since November 8th! I may go dance in the street again!
Yes, please do.
Me, too, please?
Yes, of course. Everyone is welcome to do so.
Thanks so much!
Thanks! Done!
You are quite right that lots of ways the Senate has been operating are due to self-made rules (Constitutionally based) and traditions (lacking such basis). A number of us on this thread are old enough to remember that if you wanted to filibuster a bill, you actually had to hold the Senate floor rather than simply indicate your intention to do so. Another tradition gone with the wind was the deference paid to "blue slips," the approval (or lack of same) for appointments from same-state Senators--used and abused by both parties. However, much as I would wish your scenario to be true, the link you provided states Garner's precedent gave priority first to the Majority Leader and then to the Minority Leader. I am all for playing dirty at this point, and I do not underestimate Schumer's willingness to get the rules and traditions bent his way. But is it politically savvy to try to overturn this precedent at this point? It is unfortunately easy to imagine another Pence sitting in the Senate President's chair.
Simply giving the same rights to the leader of the president's party is not enough. There should be a new system, that does some kind of rotation or turn taking, and privileges addressing any legislation from the House, so that most senators will find it in their interest to support the change. No one should have a chokehold. It has been voter suppression against the whole senate.
There are many bi-cameral systems that only allow the more representative "lower" House to originate texts of law and an obligation is imposed on the "upper" , less representative House to consider them, reject them or modify them befor the Lower House proceeds according to it's own will. Some systems also allocated specific time for the opposition to introduce any motion to its liking for consideration by the Houses.
It doesn't take away McConnell's majority! It would seem to be similar to the tradition in the UK parliament that Government "motions" take precedence over all other business...but this was confounded several times recently in the Brexit" debates to stop the government imposing its will and effectively and effectively permitted the imposition of the will of the Parliament on the Executive.
At least you'd get it on the record how everyone voted which is one of the reasons McConnell avoids calling a vote on many bills now.
This is excellent news. Thank you Joan.
It's a start. I have written to my congress people to urge them to make use of the information.
Stuart, this is an excellent assessment, but you are assuming one thing in your opening paragraph that I think is a fallacy: that the Gutlessly Oleaginous Party is an unwilling accomplice to what is now happening. They are all in with the criminal pretending to be the executive. Not even the ever-faithfully-unfaithful Susan Collins is making noise about telling Drumpf it is time to leave. I wonder how far Moscow Mitch and his Malicious Minions will go in their decision to destroy democracy, the economy, and the international reputation of the USA, because they sure are doing a great job at all three of the things right now. Drumpf cannot do this on his own and his desperation in the face of mounting potential indictments is only part of this story: his enablers and henchmen in Congress actually do hold the power and could do something but they are not--so apparently they want this chaos to continue because it suits their purposes.
To my mind McConnell used Trump...yes! His goal is to keep the power he has and i don't think that indicates a particularly detailed Agenda...rather a determination to avoid or annul the political consequences of the demographics of the last century or more. I wouldn't credit him with a greater vision than that... he relies on the Trumps of this world for that. McConnell will now be looking to avoid too much noise and confusion with the Biden transition and will do everything necessary to "slide around" Trump's departure while maintaining the allegeance of at least 73 million Americans if he can...delicate but achievable in his mind using public silence and private manipulation.
Slimy lizard
Totally agree.
Your last 2 paragraphs lay it out very nicely. We have ignored past opportunities to shore up the rules of the game. What's going to be difficult now is the fact that nearly half the country and their representatives don't give a damn about rules so resetting is going to be both challenging and painful. Where to start? How to start? Government at the local levels is no less corrupt than government at the top.The fact that the electorate has legitimized conspiracy theororists by electing them is going to require some serious undoing.
Heard an expert guest on CNN or MSNBC today talk about how Germany, France and UK have built in consequences to law violations by executive and other branches of government (e.g. ignoring subpoenas, not revealing income tax or financial documents) with teeth. The USA has, until now, relied on the assumption of honor. He (sorry, don't remember who) recommends a non-partisan (NOT bi-partisan) commission to comb through all our Constitutional requirements, and those created since, to ascribe procedures and punishments for each.
Mary Pat, I'd like to hear that. I'll Google and see if I can find it. Thanks for the info.
Mind you...we have to be very careful not to label as "conspiratorial" any opinion that we don't like and throughout the world i think there is a growing tendency to follow this intolerant path which stops all possible discussion, negotiation and consensual solution. Dictatorship of the dominant opinion, the politically correct follows ..and of course its consequently logical political ramifications.
I agree. I wasn't very clear. There is currently at least one newly elected member of Congress who openly support the "Q" conspiracy movement. Q is dangerous by virtue of the fact that Q spits out words/phrases and the followers interpret how they choose then spread their interpretation broadly. Not sure if you've seen this article.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/qanon-republican-party-congress.html
There is a great difference between absurdity and opinion...perhaps a question of degree and point of view..but this sort of thing should be heard ...yes!...but prosecuted for incitement to violence and hatred, not to mention defamation etc.
Excellent essay, Stuart. Yes, the government needs reform so that the best of its "traditions" become law based on equality before the law. It will take statesmen not politicians to achieve this. And, beyond pure chicanery lies cultism. Read this article in the New Republic yesterday.
To quote "...that the cruelty and contempt are not just the essential ingredients of Trumpism but exactly what Republican voters hunger for" Hope we can find the countermeasures for all this rather than have the mountaineer's rope not just around the Republican Party but the Constitution as well as it plummets into the black abyss of despair. Years ago I heard Bernard Haitink conduct the Boston Symphony in the Shostakovich 13th Symphony written during WWII when Shostakovich was suffering from depression. For a hour Haitink held us over this llarge black abyss but never dropped us. It was one of the most profound performances I've ever experienced.
My morning was von Karajan's Die Zauberflöte and lots of Maria Callas: a very un-modern conception of beauty it would seem!
My morning is Sir Andras Schiff playing the French Suites of Bach. Bach keeps you believing in the beauty in this world and its promise of better things to come. Next I'll listen to the Bach Mass in B minor with John Nelson conducting at Notre Dame Paris. As a member of the Aspen Festival Orchestra, I had the great privilege of performing the Mass in B minor under John Nelson the very first time he conducted it. Used the Kyrie as my wedding processional because it was both solemn and joyful.
And tonight is Vivaldi violin pieces and Cecilia!
I'd like to hear more about your Aspen experiences. My only experience with orchestras other than listening has been with my niece who was a child prodigy, piano soloist with multiple Canadian orchestras and some American before stopping and teaching literature instead.
My first "career" was as a classical violinist. I won the Womens' Association of the St. Louis Symphony Aspen Prize for a full scholarship to study and perform at the Aspen Music Festival for nine weeks in that gorgeous setting in the Rockies, a major cusp point in my life. That turned into three summers at what is essentially Juilliard's Summer School with primarily Juilliard faculty and quite a number of fantastic concert artists. My first audition was rather daunting for a girl from Kansas when the room was filled with artists who I knew from their recordings like half the Juilliard String Quartet. Studied violin with Charles Treger, the only American winner of the Wienawski competition. I had chamber music with Claus Adam, the cellist of the Juilliard Quartet one summer and Mischa Mischakoff, Toscanni's concertmaster, the first summer. Aspen is a renaissance town with the Institute of Humanistic Studies and Center of the Eye photography institute with photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson. And, of course, it's natural beauty at 7,900 feet above sea level is spectacular. The Festival and Chamber orchestras rehearsed in the huge tent where the performances took place. Performing within the orchestra is very different from being in the audience and always an amazing experience with this caliber of orchestra. Remember playing the Beethoven 7th Symphony (this was the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth -- yes, 50 years ago now) and in the last movement literally felt like my chair was four feet off the ground and I was flying. Absolutely exhilarating. Going back to the Mass in the B minor. I was sitting on the second desk of first violins. In the Credo, the bass line slowly and inexorably descends into hell. It was so spiritually moving that when I looked across the orchestra at the string bass section I hallucinated that they were literally standing in coffins. I continued playing but it was getting more and more difficult. Fortunately, the Resurrection started and every thing was glorious again. Those moments don't happen very often, but when they do you know why you are a musician. Especially with composers like Bach and Beethoven, these masters can take you into what I call the Universal Plane where concepts like Omnipresence are very simple to understand.
From studies on the brain of musicians they find that playing a musical instrument is like giving the brain a total body workout. It lights up every part of the brain. So, studying musical instrument should be part of every child's education because of the positive traits it helps develop..
Probably more than you wanted to know but it was most enjoyable to remminisce about those glorious three summers. Now back to listening to the Mass -- the Credo is next!
Thank you. Very much appreciated. These days one is very happy to find another alien to be friends with.
I like to share this link to the TED talk on the benefits of playing an instrument on the brain.
https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_how_playing_an_instrument_benefits_your_brain?language=en
Here is the link to the article: https://newrepublic.com/article/160212/republican-party-dead-its-trump-cult-now
Unfortunately subscription required.
I don't have a subscription either but it allows me to read three articles for free.
More parties, diluting the power of the one "in power" would be preferable to controlling them by "policing and punishment." (And it's Rikers Island, not Rykers)
You still need to make sure the rules are respected in both letter and spirit. Having more players renders the game more complex but not necessarily more just or less corrupt otherwise!...and on the Islands around the estuary of the Hudson...either Ellis or RIkers i only have second-hand experience and not the penetrative power of Lord Howe and his Fleet!
Putting the matters of corruption and being "less just" aside, a "dictatorship of the majority" is less likely when no single party is the majority.
Very true!
If Senators Sasse and Romney are serious, they should vote with the Democrats in the Senate, giving them a majority in that House. Otherwise they just serve as a cosmetic for the Republican Party, which is complicit in the breaking down of democracy in America which HCR describes.
Historically, if the Republicans are allowed to get away with it, it will be an American tragedy even greater than the failure of Reconstruction.
My lesson from today's Letter is that it is the gerrymandering that has caused the two parties to go to the extreme right in particular but also farther to the left. My assumption was it was the two party system itself that eventually moves members of the parties to the extremes and hollows out the middle. The middle, the Independents, now represent 36% of the electorate with Republicans at 31% and Democrats at 31% in the latest Gallup poll. But, what about the rest of the world where authoritarianism is on the rise in general. They don't have gerrymandered states, do they? Do like the history of the loyal opposition. Ranked choice voting would take care of some of these issue. I keep feeling we aren't thinking about this at a high enough level. We're just putting patches on a few things but the underlying problems are festering and getting more serious.
This is a fallacy. The Republican Party has very quickly become extreme authoritarian, but the Democratic Party has not shifted much. There are a few more Liberal, but none are extreme. This story explains. https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/26/republican-party-autocratic-hungary-turkey-study-trump
Thank you for the article. That's quite informative. I'm not sure I'm ever going to understand what is happening to the Republicans.
Read Richard Hofstadter's "The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt" (read the version in American Scholar, it's more complete). It'sbeen going on a long time. The three best books on how it all happened are by my friend Rick Perlstein: "Before the Storm" (the Goldwater movement and election of 1964); "Nixonland" (you know who), and "The Invisible Bridge" (Reagan and Reaganism). Well written and readable, highly informative, and you will understand "what happened to the Republican Party" and if you include Hofstadter, you'll know they didn't have to move all that far to become what they are now.
Hofstadter brings up Theodore Adorno's 1949 study, The Authoritarian Personality. Adorno, who was a refugee from Germany, knew fascism and fascists when he saw them.
Here's Hofstadter for you to start with:
https://theamericanscholar.org/the-pseudo-conservative-revolt/
Money quote: "The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
And an interesting quote from Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 campaign, which is even more relevant today: “The strange alchemy of time, has somehow converted the Democrats into the truly conservative party of this country — the party dedicated to conserving all that is best, and building solidly and safely on these foundations.”
Wow! Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate this very much!
Hello - May we bring the institutions of "realpolitik" to the peering into the "pseudo-conservative"?
Thank you for:
Money quote: "The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
The growing practice and practitioners of pseudo-conservativism are now citizens who overtly and covertly undermine and degrade the institutions of citizenship. The pseudo-conservative citizen, in the pursuit of self-interest in any practical way possible - a realpolitik stance - is destroying the institutions and institutional ecology underlying citizenship.
Is this a fair understanding of Hofstadter's constructions and is it a fair statement of the successful campaign of the party of Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, Gingrich and McConnell? (And of the political arm of Koch Industries?)
Thank you for the detailed notes, quotes and links.
- Alok
That's a good analysis, yes.
I’ve been reading about and even occasionally listening to Rick Perlstein. He’s done a great service with his books. Thank you for all your helpful leads. 🙏🏻 ❤️🤍💙
Gerrymandering is neither just a tool used very successfully by the GOP (as the Democrats do it somewhat lackadasically too) nor has it been restricted to the USA despite the origins of the word coming from the iniquitous practices of a particular US Senator. In the UK there is significant over representation on the part of the Labour Party due to inequality in the size of circumscriptions for instance. There is a strong movement towards equal sized constituencies and, as it strongly favours the current Conservative government, is likely to be put in place. The drawing of the lines is however in the hands of an apolitical body.
Elbridge Gerry was a governor when his name was given to the practice. He was later Vice President, but never senator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#:~:text=The%20term%20gerrymandering%20is%20named,to%20the%20shape%20of%20a
To add a bit of trivia here, the Gerry family says their name is pronounced like Gary so we should be saying ga-ry-mandering.
Thanks...i hadn't checked the dtails but just relied on an old memory of a book somewhere!
Gerrymandering is a problem, but the Senatorial over-representation of low population, Republican states is far worse. When the Constitution was written, the largest state had less than 13 times as many people as the smallest. Today, the largest state has nearly 70 times as many people as the smallest. The smallest states also have the highest proportion of white voters. If that weren't enough, Trump is making yet another attempt to leave undocumented immigrants out of census. As if states won't incur cost of providing education, medical care etc. to these mostly hard working people.
The other factor which pushes for partisan polarization is the low voter turnout at primary elections--most often in the range of 10-25% of eligible voters. Those who do show up tend to have strong commitments to particular local or personal issues, and/or strong partisan loyalties. So, especially when combined with politically gerrymandered districts, primary candidates usually choose to out-Right wing (or -Left wing) their competitors to have a chance in the primary. For a long period of time, the rule of thumb was that they then had to "move to the center" to be successful in the broader, better attended general election. Dark money backing, targeted ads and communication bubbles have reduced the needs to do so now.
OH!
I have been saying for 30 years that we need an Independent Party.
When asked what my party is, I reply Synergist Party. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Don't focus on splitting the pie, make a bigger pie! I'm not going to be put into one of the two little boxes. Again, I'm an AND person not a OR bifurcater. Have thought of writing a platform for a Synergist Party. Maybe an interesting exercise as an assignment for one of Heather's classes.
“this attempt of Republican leaders to delegitimize the Democratic Party is an assault on our democracy”. However, can we agree that the Republican Party, as it is currently constituted, should be delegitimized because of its decades-long assault on our democracy, specifically its assault on elections and voting?
I would be happy to see a new party formed from the never-Trumpers, the Lincoln Project, RVAT, and other conservatives who fled the Republican Party. The Republican brand is too badly tarnished to be salvaged.
It would be politically effective if the Republican legislators could be delegitimized with the Trump voter.
Especially for the Georgia runoffs.
Proposal:
Pelosi should pass a Fund the Police bill that increases taxes for billionaires.
Or
Amplify the case on tv that the repub senate's blocking of the stimulus hurt trump's reelection?
Trump obfuscates on the election to buy time. He needs to get his ducks in a row since eh is about to meet the consequences of his behavior for the past 4 years. The extent of which is not know but he faces at the very least, extensive debt and several investigations that he cannot pardon or have pardoned away. The cartoons showing him wreaking everything in the room are all too accurate. The damage he has done to our democracy will leave it scarred but not broken. He will leave behind many people who want a savior but got a conman and are unwilling to open their eyes to the destruction he has wrought upon them. He is going out as he came in, a torrent of chaos, a storm of untruth. We either learn the lessons of the time or are doomed to repeat them. I too am older and may not see many more presidents. Hopefully I never see another like this one.
Has it occurred to anyone in this exchange that he is NOT having a trantrum, but is DELIBERATELY traying to leave only wreakage behind, to make sure that Biden becomes a wek president who spends his single term with repair, at best? Two policies here: overturn the election and take power, or scorched earth.
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Spell check.
I agree. Trump is flailing about because from a characterological point of view he can't admit being a loser. And he will burn the house down rather than admit he can't keep it any longer. BUT, all of his willing supporters (the ones with power, whether in or out of government) are quite clear on the political gains that come from hamstringing a Biden administration. Trump's an evil clown, and the oligarchs and their minions may well dump him if he loses clout, but the efforts undercut any threats to their powers is deadly serious.
Honestly, I've been telling people for months now that we're going to have to do something more...I'm just not sure what, beyond shouting, writing letters, cursing and wishing the GOP held to what I consider to be pro democracy. I'm discouraged by this stuff. Thanks for all you do Heather. I'm sure I'd be in a basket without your letters.
What's going to happen is the fight continues. All the promises of ponies and chocolate on January 21 were made by people who fail to understand the situation.
What it needs is for 10 million people to converge peacefully on Washington in an organized fashion to support democracy and to surround all political institutions, blocking everything until the Trump Orcdom collapses under the weight of its own massive and growing ineptitude, iniquities, irrelevance and isolation.
One word. PANDEMIC! 🤦🏼♀️
I know...That is precisely what I was thinking...I'm able, but it's scary with the pandemic raging. Now we know what our service members were called on to do...don't we?
But you know what would happen then - the same thing we saw here in Minneapolis six months ago: the rallies would quickly be infiltrated by people who only want to foment chaos and violence. They would smash windows and set fires, ratchet up the rhetoric of hatred, and would consider it a job well done if they provoke rioting and violence.
That's why i say "organized and peacefull" . It requires the "policing" of the protest by the organizers (just ask the unions in France...they know how to do it). It also requires cooperation with the Mayor and his Chief of police; frankness and trust on both sides. That way you give no excuse to the Brownshirts or violent anarchists of any colour. If you don't police it in your own defense ...you lose it.
I'm sure Mayor Bowser can handle it. Bad timing, though, as the upcoming holidays as well as the coronavirus would put a crimp in that plan.
What if they camped there for the whole month of December. Trump would flee and McConnell would flip his "Whig"
Its not like there hasn't been a Tent City in DC before!!!
I am in general agreement with the crew here, but I wish people wouldn't call ANYONE names. I have hated it when Trump makes up names for people he dislikes and I think it is disrespectful. When we make up names for Trump and McConnell and their adherents, we are no better. To work with people, to bridge gaps, name-calling, however tempting it is, doesn't aid in genuine communication and problem-solving. It also gives our kids the idea that it's okay. Just sayin' (Don't think I am too much of a goody-goody. I have let loose language that would befit a pirate, but think it isn't useful in public discourse.)
I appreciate Heather's consistent respectful language, even in the midst of dissecting repugnant behaviour. We can take a page from her book. (Thanks, Heather.)
The names are used to create short emotion-packed labels to replace the more complicated aspects of any person viewed as an opponent, and helps to turn that opponent into an enemy. These labels are cheap forms of ad hominum arguments, one of the classic logical falacies. More importantly, they associate the enemy with tbe emotional content of the label. This fits with the procedure of classical conditioning (or Pavlovian conditioning). The labels become conditioned stimuli which elicit a strong emotional response from the listener. For example, after hearing repeated pairings of "Hilllary" and "crooked," one hears "Hillary" and immediately thinks "crooked." The whole impeachment process took place because Trump wanted to apply the same label to Biden.
Thanks, I don’t understand your last sentence. Please explain?
Thanks for asking! Trump was never particularly interested that Ukraine actually investigate the Bidens, he only wanted Ukraine to announce that it was investigating the Biden and his son so he could pin a label like "Crooked Joe" on him. This was his motivation to dangle the quid pro quo of the Burisma investigation in return for both the release of the held funds and a face-to-face meeting. As it was, he had to settle for the "Sleepy Joe" label, which probably less effective. If Biden was being investigated anywhere, he could have returned to the "Lock him up!" chant/cheer, which would have added additional spice to his pep rallies. I hope this helps.
Calling him the Asswipe Occupying the White House is much more to type than his actual name, which I hate to even mention because it is more disgusting than used toilet paper.
I am sorry but I simply cannot say his name as it brings up all sorts of emotions. I do, however, call him Fake 45, with good reason.
I am getting sadder each day.
Please take care of yourself. Stay in contact with friends you can trust. Better days will come.
Thanks Ralph. I am sad, but good. My husband in our home, a bubble with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters, Big family video call every Sunday and lots of close friends. All of my close friends and family are like minded, so I have it much better than many other people. 73 million people who want 45 to stay in office does feel overwhelming. But I would rather know what is going on than pretend it is okay. I have ratcheted down my news to this newsletter, WAPO, NYT and The Arizona Republic. That is more than enough information. You take care as well.
Thank you, Linda. My wife and I are both quietly retired, so staying at home is not that much of a change. Nevertheless, it's a difficult period for everyone. Life just feels different, and then the surreal political events we have been experiencing make everything feel tentative and full of doubt. Add in climate change and this just seems like a strange time in history.
Life certainly does feel different. A year ago I was traveling through Europe, having the best time and planning how to get my granddaughters to Germany for the Christmas Festivals this year. And now instead we only see each other in their backyard from a distance. And with COVID testing I am hoping for hugs from them for Christmas. Wow the world changed.
Naw, we knew they would keep pulling the big guns out the more they understood they’d lost. Like a child who will use every manipulation skill in the books even in the face of defeat. He and they are toast and they know it. The issue is that his zombie cultist followers have drank the cool aid and we’ll have to contend with them. That’ll be fun. 🙄
Wow. Fun didn't cross my mind. LOL
I'm beginning to wonder where the Democrats are. Republicans are silent, but I don't hear enough noise from Dems. They need to literally drag Ms Murphy out of her office and get her to explain why she's single-handedly holding up the beginnings of the transfer. You know she'll be a no show, even if served with a subpoena. When will we take to the streets to make the repubs do what's right? I'm just sick and tired of it all! And, maybe that's the point...wear them down. I may be "sick and tired", but there's still a lot of anger in this old body to physically stand for what's right!
The Dems are making noise. They have summoned her to a congressional hearing. But Ms.Murphy doesn't want to get in trouble with the COngressional Republicans who are mostly supporting Trump through their silence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/murphy-trump-biden-transition-/2020/11/20/93c42044-29d2-11eb-92b7-6ef17b3fe3b4_story.html
You and I both know damn well she will not show for the hearing, even if there's a subpoena. I can't imagine how much kool-aid she drank to let this go on, given the numbers dying everyday due to Covid. She's catching up to a level of dislike I have for McConnell and Graham and others.
Thank you Pam for your well situated and well reasoned frustration! You might find a kindred voice in Rebecca Solnit today:
https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-on-not-meeting-nazis-halfway/
Thank you for this Solnit piece. Very good!
Here is Amber Ruffin speaking a similar message as Rebecca Solnit’s essay. It’s as persuasive and actionable.
https://youtu.be/L2UFQYj1Clo
Someone by the name of Linda Brown posted this on the Unofficial Healther Cox Richardson Facebook page. If this is true and doable, it would be consistent with the philosophy of originalism that the majority of SCOTUS justices claim to justify their decisions:
Even if the Democrats don’t win control of the Senate, there is a legal, Constitutional way to strip Mitch McConnell of his power for good: priority recognition.
According to Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. The Majority Leader is not a position that exists anywhere in the Constitution. The reason that the Majority Leader has near-dictatorial powers to control floor votes is because of a tradition that dates back to 1937. The tradition is that the Vice President gives the floor leaders priority recognition. Most notably, this is not a rule in the Senate.
As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris could give any senator priority recognition. That senator could then decide on all legislation that is brought before the entire Senate. Even with a minority in the Senate, Vice President Harris could simply give Chuck Schumer priority recognition. He could decide what is voted on and what isn’t.
This would change everything. Without Mitch McConnell to hide behind, the moderate Republican Senators would be forced to vote down every Cabinet member, bill, resolution, everything that Harris would want done. Without McConnell, anything even remotely popular with at least two senators would pass. Including getting a cabinet assembled.
I see some debate as to what the Senate rules do and due not permit. I encourage everyone to read this on the actual written rules and why the Majority Leader is so powerful today. It should be noted, however, unlike the House of Representatives, a large part of the Senate rules is tradition. As Mitch McConnell will gladly tell you, tradition is not written rule.
Also, This wouldn’t be the first time Schumer has done something like this. And yes, while there’s the possibility of rule changes, they cannot change the Constitution. At the end of the day, Madame Vice President Harris is President of the Senate. Period. Not Mitch McConnell.
Well THATS interesting - considering how much "tradition" has already been booted to the wayside!
There may be a catch or a "however." But I thought it was interesting enough to post and explore.
It does give a glimmer of hope that there might actually be a way around MM!
wonder why Obama and Biden didn’t use this? Was there something that prevented them?
It may be that there's a hurdle in the fine print that's too hard or nearly impossible to overcome.
Joan Friedman also posted this Linda Brown Facebook post one hour before you, in reply to Stuart Attewell’s post 6 hours earlier. So FYI there is a long thread there of interesting responses.
I'm having trouble finding the posts you reference. Twitter or Facebook. Can you point me/us to them? Also, there may be a catch about "unanimous approval" that wasn't addressed in the post that I saw.
Substack is sadly limited with search functions, not to mention edit. But if you select Top First for the order of comments, near the top, you’ll find Stuart Attewell’s post followed by Joan Friedman’s.
Thank you, Ellie!
Thank you, Heather, for continuing to hold us up.
I used to believe that the majority of people, including people in government service, were inherently good, that they possessed morals and a conscience. However, I am no longer a “Pollyanna” when it comes to politics. I would love to believe the congressmen from Michigan when they say “whoever wins Michigan wins the electoral votes”, but I just can’t. When I see them speak these words, or see them in print, all I see/hear is Lindsey Graham stating “Mark my words, Republicans will never appoint a Supreme Court Justice in an election year”. I find it interesting that in their statement they told us what THEY said, but did not give any mention of what tRump said or offered to them. I live in Michigan, and am afraid that they will find a “way” to appoint republican electors.
What is happening now is utterly despicable.
I naively believed our governmental infrastructure was stronger than it turned out to be. Through every law- or norm-breaking Trump and/or action Republican action, I thought oh there’s a backstop for this, checks and balances you know. Turns out there isn’t.
I would like you to make a distinction between elected people in government and public employees. As a long time government employee, I have met many people in government service who possess morals and a conscience.
Tip O'Neill, an old-time Irish-American pol from South Boston and Speaker of the House decades ago, said it well: "Politics ain't beanbag."