Given the constant state of dysfunction, it should be the case that where possible, independents should have more power than Democrats or Republicans. For example, the now completely dysfunctional Federal Election Commission is composed of 2 dems, 1 independent and 3 repubs. It should be composed of 3-4 independents, 1-2 dems and 1-2 repubs.
Another example is the House finally being able to move forward with a commission[1] to investigate the 1/6 Republican coup attempt. Months of wrangling about this in the House has been bitter and highly partisan. House repubs want to muddy the waters to create confusion and deflect from Republican party responsibility for the violence and intent to subvert the 2020 election. The proposed commission will be chaired by a dem and vice-chaired by a repub. That's a recipe for failure. The end result will probably be two reports, one dem and one repub. Each side will point to their report as authentic and accurate.
That is not acceptable. The commission should be dominated by independents with minorities of dems and repubs. There should be only one final report and if either side wants to dissent, they do it on their own and without commission authority. Absent that, two reports would just be seen by partisans as propaganda documents, even if one of the two was reasonably sound, not just partisan spin and lies.
Regime change and overthrow of the two-party system in America is long overdue. A pox on the Democratic and Republican Parties and their refusal to accommodate the fact that they are both minorities compared to independents. Both had many chances to govern intelligently and responsibly. They failed[2] and deserve no more chances.
Questions: Are both parties equally responsible for the dysfunction and deep distrust and hate American governance and society are hopelessly mired in? Or is one side more responsible than the other? For example, it looks to me that the fascist GOP is about 85% responsible and dems are about 15% responsible. Most conservatives will probably see it differently, e.g., dems and liberals are ~95% responsible, while repubs and conservatives are ~5% responsible.
Or, since there are so few independents in elected office, do they deserve no place at the table of power? Does it matter that both the Democratic and Republican Parties have always fought dagger, tooth and claw to block (i) the rise of a third party, and (ii) power for independents?
Footnote:
1. Whether the final commission report will lead to anything meaningful is highly doubtful. Official commissions, blue ribbon panels, major investigations, expert white papers and all the rest have often or usually been used to make politically unfixable problems go away. That happened after major race riots in the US since the 1800s. All the commissions came to the same conclusions. And the result was always the same: Nothing was done, nothing changed and predictable race riots occurred for known reasons. What we have with 1/6 coup attempt commission and inquiry clearly is a politically unfixable problem. The GOP is openly moving toward anti-democratic fascism and deep corruption, while the dems are still stumbling, fumbling and bumbling with eroding democracy and a weakening rule of law. That divergence is not fixable. The GOP has the power and will use it to make damn sure it doesn't get fixed.
2. Democrats had power for years, but never defended democracy, the rule of law and civil liberties, including voting rights, by passing laws with real teeth. That failure was colossal and still is unforgivable. They were content to rely on norms, ethics recommendations and other toothless guard rails to protect liberties and rights that Americans used to have but are now losing. From Jan. 2017 through Jan. 2021, the ex-president and fascist GOP acted together to finish blowing the guard rails and all respect for truth and the rule of law to smithereens. Now with our broken, corrupted government, it isn't possible to pass laws to defend what average Americans are on the verge of losing to fascism and corruption.
No comments:
Post a Comment