Reading the wiki article on it makes me realize that, once again, I assumed the American democracy was actually trying to be efficient and democratic. Nope, it's not "majority of the house will vote for a bill, or else we won't put it to the floor", it's "Majority of the majority will vote for it, regardless of the house majority or if the votes are in the minority, or else we won't put it to the floor"
If you guys don't default, I'm hoping all this dirty laundry of -how- you guys run your system puts some impetus to at least token change. Like seriously, everywhere you turn there's institutional corruption and "You can't be serious" systems in place.
Now, know I am telling you the Lord's truth when I say it was never intended to be efficient or effective, in fact, it was hoped to be neither.The American system is a unique result of it's early years. The American public had liberated themselves from a foreign power, and they had at best a minor recognition of the need to stay together. States were regarded as the actual point, and everything was run on a state level. This was considered a improper system by many, and the country split, between those who valued Democracy, and those who valued a strong, effective central government, which was seen as the antithesis of Freedom. The First attempt at a national binding document, the Articles of Confederation, leaned far in the direction of the states, with an eye to preventing any possibility of Tyranny, so much so that the country began to fall apart, as states wrote their own laws in complete defiance of the central; and the Central Government, which required a 2/3 vote of 13 representatives to accomplish anything at all, and a full vote to change the articles, was nearly powerless.
The Constitution as written gives the Central government theoretically almost unlimited power and control over the country and how it is run (which is has slowly assumed more of as the years go by), but it was written to bind it to the system we use, with an constant eye to checks and balances, or more bluntly, playing one faction against the other. It was designed so that a compromise would be able to pass the system mostly unscathed, but nothing else could, so no one faction (as parties didn't exist yet) could ram through something objectionable. In that it accomplishes that goal, it works, mostly. However, it has come to several blockade never originally imagined: 1. The Government has created systems where in it requires action (read: Compromise) to operate, which can be abused. 2. The Political parties today have become Polarized and self-consitiency, where going against your party is a political sin you can be punished for (possibly by the respective party reducing or even removing their funds for campaigning for you), and where the factions amount to 2 (maybe 3) where there had once been many (the Democrats were once big in the South for example. Ever heard of Dixiecrat?)and so it is impossible for a alliance of smaller groups to pass something.
Simply put, the parties have gone into a position that happens to work terribly with the system. If the Republican Party goes belly-up in the next few elections, The Democrats will start factionalizing while the republicans work to bring in new members by moderating, especially on Social issues. Or maybe the Democrats will splinter into several parties while the Republicans become the "extreme right" party, but I sorta doubt it. The Two-Party system is as old as the Constitution, The First President a member of a bygone party, and it is designed with that in mind.
Anyway, Ted Cruz has stated he won't try any procedural nonsense to slow the Senate down, so expect a vote tonight. From there, the House will vote on it, and they don't use nearly as much procedure, so we should see a deal tonight.
This is a bit like watching a meteorite move very close to the Earth.
Or even into an unstable near-earth orbit. The proposed bill funds the gov't through Jan 15 - three months - and raises the debt ceiling through Feb 7 - three and a half months. So rather than this fight being a yearly event, we can look forward to it roughly every quarter! Hooray!!
Nothing bad will ever come of this.
Ehh, actually the last fight over this was in January of
this year, so we're averaging slightly below bi-annually. And that one went down a lot smoother, with Boehner conceding early and waiving the Hastert rule. Back when he had balls.
Also,
this graph amused me. Also check out th eone about Obamacare approval. Approval has gone down by a lot, but
disapproval has gone down even more, almost double, and has dropped to below 50% for the first time since May. I wonder why?
Poll
7 (6.5%)
Author
Topic: Bay12 Election Night Watch Party (Read 832037 times)