my thought for the day:

i was over at politicalwire.com this morning. some folks were discussing the two party system etc. yes, it’s baked in for us, and yes, we need two robust parties.

my thinking is this:

principled opponents are welcome when politics is a clash of value systems, each of which is in some way valid; a competition between basically well-intentioned people who see the world differently.

when it becomes, not even a conflict of interests, but instead an “our team no matter what”, degenerative, brutal struggle for office in which one side with righteous indignation believes *only* the other is and can be capable of behaving despicably while they themselves in fact run roughshod over it all, well then eff em without mercy

elections of late have been contentious and close. no one may claim a runaway mandate. yet senate republicans are behaving like they have a 70 member chamber. they cant get anything done because (1) they dont have 70, and (2) wont recognize there’s another party with virtually half the seats. the fcc vote ignored the huge public position against rescinding neutrality.

further, in both chambers, the r’s are doing everything they can to defame, delegitimized, and make irrelevant the other party (AND by extension the more than half the population they represent) by parliamentary tricks (cf merrick garland, and now doug jones, scheduling, regular order, etc.), biased rule changes, and shutting the door on dems from even participating in crafting legislation.

i am not a pollyanna.
each party at the very least must recognize the other’s right to exist and to be included in the legislative process. of course the minority shouldnt get everything. neither should they get nothing.

at a minimum we need a *functioning* two party system.