tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post5330994232449373940..comments2023-10-15T05:33:35.272-04:00Comments on The Mischiefs of Faction: Don't Leave Dangerous Toys Out in Plain SightSeth Maskethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17178036016555722068noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-15018362690012666752013-10-04T01:49:13.092-04:002013-10-04T01:49:13.092-04:00It seems to me to be a mistake to blame this on th...It seems to me to be a mistake to blame this on the "parties" because that term abstracts who is actually doing what and severs accountability. To understand what is going on we must look at how the representatives in Congress are being elected. We know that it is events in the invisible primary that actually determine who is nominated, and when those people are elected to office they are accountable to those who got them nominated--various special interest groups. <br /><br />I'm a bit weak on my history, but I believe that previously to 1970 (and as you go further back in time--to the 1880s at its peak) it was patronage that the groups who did the nominating wanted, so there were fewer intense battles over policy. Since the 1970s the new array of groups that make up the parties increasingly represent groups of intense policy demanders (usually businesses and their policy opponents like labor unions), and they demand no compromise on the policies that directly affect them from the legislators they hire. Thus those legislators readily use all the dangerous toys at their disposal. <br /><br />To say that "Republicans" want this or "Democrats" are doing that is like telling a lie. They are only representatives, and they represent the special interests who got them nominated and elected. It is those interests who are the true actors and the problem is that they are in control rather than the general public. Of course this is a more complicated subject than I make it out to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-990151692659327772013-10-03T18:49:30.939-04:002013-10-03T18:49:30.939-04:00"What are the normal methods?"
I think ..."What are the normal methods?"<br /><br />I think that Seth omits the most important of the normal methods. When you lose elections over and over, you recalibrate your party's policy stances towards the middle until you get a majority coalition. In a case like the U.S. federal government, where the divide between Republicans and Democrats under the current electoral system is thin enough to produce split control of Congress, this needn't be a very radical tweak. But, rather than moderate just a bit, the GOP has moved in the other direction with predictable results. A failure to exercise this tool is the most notable of the recent rise in extreme political tactics.<br /><br />I wouldn't be surprised to see the Courts strike down the debt ceiling as unconstitutional (or simply invalid) and take that dangerous toy off the table on the grounds that later enacted appropriations legislation is irreconcilable with the earlier enacted debt ceiling and so the latter implicitly repeals the former (or alternately, that debt ceiling legislation is unconstitutional because it binds a future Congress or because it has the effect of repealing legislation previously enacted without the passage of both houses of Congress and Presidential approval as required by the constitution).<br /><br />When push comes to shove, I think that the Courts would honor a "nuclear option" majority repeal of the filibuster in the Senate without the two-thirds majority required for a rule change as well.<br /><br />So removing the dangerous toys does seem like a viable way for the nation to avoid a constitutional crisis which the GOP seems to be trying to force. Now, there are still choke points that are not so easily removed from the sand box (like failure to pass a continuing resolution to get what one wants, which is the tactic, after all, that gave rise to modern parliamentary democracy in both England and France). But, as long as voters continue the trend of punishing parties that resort to that tactic, it won't be used very often.andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08172964121659914379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-52406096366684697932013-10-03T16:09:06.091-04:002013-10-03T16:09:06.091-04:00This may be my partisan blinders, but I still see ...This may be my partisan blinders, but I still see one party at the root of all this. The recalls in Wisconsin were undertaken because the GOP had really gone well past normal policy disagreements and into the realm of policies that are fundamentally hostile to the constituents of the other party. Democrats might want to regulate businesses, or tax the rich, or make abortion easier, but they don't want absolutist positions on these things.<br /><br />'I realize that this could easily come from partisan bias. But it could also be a truthful observation....Jarvhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00030141283661825203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-38510576264115083642013-10-03T15:49:25.615-04:002013-10-03T15:49:25.615-04:00All true, Detective Freamon. And Wisconsin's m...All true, Detective Freamon. And Wisconsin's method for amending its constitution is, I believe, more challenging than most. But the recall could still be amended away, more easily in other states.Seth Maskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178036016555722068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-65381498158452066242013-10-03T15:47:20.183-04:002013-10-03T15:47:20.183-04:00Thanks!Thanks!Seth Maskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178036016555722068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-8256299371774289732013-10-03T13:14:28.546-04:002013-10-03T13:14:28.546-04:00Great post!Great post!L'il Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07282692963428671643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925493305476056067.post-29502592610341817702013-10-03T11:05:57.835-04:002013-10-03T11:05:57.835-04:00It is very hard to qualify a recall for the ballot...It is very hard to qualify a recall for the ballot in Wisconsin. They are proposed constantly and they almost always fail, because most people agree that they should only be used in extreme circumstances, so they don't get the signatures they need.<br /><br />And the recall is, in fact, written into the Wisconsin constitution.Lester Freamonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10682695881368225920noreply@blogger.com