re: #38 Targetpractice

Not sure if you are the one who posted it or not… but do you remember the image from the other day, which showed the inter-party and intra-party voting on bills in Congress, over time, each year shown as clusters? I remarked that it looked like a cell undergoing mitosis.

Anyway, the point of that image was the increase of partisanship over the decades. At one time it was not unusual for members of different parties to vote for a bill sponsored in part by congressmen of the other party.

Not so much today.

Part of this, I propose, is a simple reflection of our society, with an increase in informational isolation (“epistemic bubbles”) as well as a deepening rift in this country between the religious and non-religious, as well as increased skill on the part of information brokers in working the urban-rural divide in culture.

If indeed our scheme of governance is breaking down, that is, laws are not passed as society needs them, and the executive branch does not execute the will of the people as expressed by Congress as it should, then worrying about fixing small parts of this or that law isn’t going to matter much any more.

In other words, I’m not sure the ACA can be repaired in where it needs it, as until the Democratic party holds a veto-proof majority in both houses any sense of a national agenda for health care is dead.