Since my browser refuses to divulget the secret password for allowing me to comment on Blogger, I have to do the next best thing:
If people are going to quote me I'm going to have to take more time editing my writing. Wish I'd been online to read this Saturday while I was writing my post for Sunday.
I literally can't edit enough, even when I'm writing (as now) on a keyboard rather than a cell-phone sized virtual keyboard. I've almost given up, and decided my audience can just figure it out for themselves.
What Now Is The Republican Party?
Two additional actions have weakened parties. Citizen United freed candidates from the party funding structure. The parties just wouldn't fund fringe candidates and on the whole without adequate funding most remained fringe. With Citizen United, Peter Thiel can give us J.F. Vance. Previously, Vance would have suffered a humiliating defeat because he wouldn't have been able to raise funds.
The second was what turned out to be the negative consequences of virtue. We got rid of earmarks. The consequences were the parties lost a lot of leverage over their elected members. Previously a member of Congress could vote for legislation that might be cast as negative, but get an earmark to make up for it that was popular at home. Without that, why would anyone vote for anything that might anger your base? The result is more and more extremism.
There is a lot more at play, but here are two places to consider. As for Citizens United, this SCOTUS will never reverse it. The second has been slowly weakened by the Democrats, understand it strengthens the party. Be a fringe a fringe jerk and you get nothing. That helps.
That's one; this is the other:
My only quibble is that we had immediate factionalization during Washington's first term in the form of an Anti-Administration "party" (a wafer thing distinction), which evolved into the Democratic-Republicans in 1792.
All corrections and emendations gratefully accepted. Points about Citizens United and earmarks are excellent and true, and add to the stumbles we've made away from political parties that at least exert some pressure toward a sensible path, one hard to see especially this month.
The historical point is well taken, and I'm glad it's offered. History is not my strong suit, and I appreciate learning something I didn't know (because, obviously, political parties in America didn't wait for Washington to step down to spring full blown from the brow of Jefferson or Adams, right?) I love learning this stuff.
I got locked out of my first blog when the old Microsoft e-mail I used shut down. Probably just as well in my case. I have a commentator who complains about people who post their writing online who is upset with me for not posting his comments because they invariably violate my rules for not slandering people. People other than me, that's OK because I can answer it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair point: if Trump can declassify by a mere act of thought, perhaps in the Year of our Lord 2022, perhaps we should all follow suit and stop putting our thoughts onto Al Gore's Internet.
ReplyDelete