re: #117 Targetpractice

There is this belief in the Beltway media that the ideal period in US politics spanned from 1981 to 1993, because (they tell themselves) the parties would loudly disagree and slag each other in public, but then they’d retire to the backroom to congenially hash out deals over dinner and drinks. They want so badly for there to be a return to the sort of relationship that Ronnie and Tip had, where they would pose for the cameras are arch-enemies, but then would meet up at the WH to talk shop over scotch. Want to believe with all their hearts that there are deals to be made and peace to be found if only the party leaders would stop listening to the “radicals” in their ranks.

My grand unified theory of bipartisanship is somewhat different. In short, it’s to make sure that the interests the Confederate Party, the eternal cabal of white rural mostly Southern gentry, is always paramount.

The Confederate Party used to be bipartisan: almost all Southern Dems and GOP belonged to it. Therefore, you would get bipartisan support for things that benefitted the white rural Southern gentry, and everyone could congratulate themselves for their enlightened polity that transcended mere grubby politicking. The current form of the filibuster codified this.

Over time, the Dem members of the Confederate Party became GOP or disappeared, and the GOP and the Confederate Party became the same thing. Of course, the need to please the Confederate Party stayed. Therefore, nowadays, Dems still need to show bipartisanship by pleasing the GOP, like we see right now. But, the GOP doesn’t need to show bipartisanship by pleasing the Dems: nobody in the media was clutching their pearls about bipartisanship when the GOP passed a huge tax cut with zero Dem support. That’s perfectly consistent with “bipartisanship”, because in both cases the Confederate Party’s interests are the only things that matter. QE fuckin D.