Are things going too far?

[forgotten manatee]

We will soon have a Republican-controlled White House thanks in part to the influence of a hostile foreign power, a Republican-controlled Congress thanks in part to gerrymandering, and a Republican Supreme Court due to dirty tactics and a stolen seat. Is the GOP pushing its ruthlessness and bad faith too far? If so, what are the likely consequences or results?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

There were attempts on the lives of three Republican legislators last year. One was part of an attempted massacre. Things are most definitely going too far.

[KingSweden]

Until we start to decentralize power from DC back to the states, the value of the prize of control of the federal government will continue to grow and the measures taken to make sure the preferred tribe gets to wield it will continue to escalate

Our federalist system is and continues to be the answer.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

I genuinely believe the current constitutional order won't survive the next 50 years. Either we're going to fix things and enact reforms like proportional representation and abolition of the Senate and Electoral College in order to actually make government representative, or else we're going to fall into some form of overt autocracy.

Not going to make a bet on which.

[krazen1211]

Nah. America thrives even if a trivial fraction of the population is upset over nothing.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Nah. America thrives even if a trivial fraction of the population is upset over nothing.

Yes, internment camps for toddlers is clearly nothing.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The Handmaidens Tale becomes real life, Afleitch is “disappeared”, and Snowstalker leads the proletarian revolution.

[progressive85]

History shows us that when a party overreaches, the American voter will press the brakes. 

Donald Trump and the Republican Party are pushing this country to the right of Attila the Hun.

Everybody keeps talking about how the Republican base is fired up - as if there are no Democrats left anymore in this country.

Democrats are ENRAGED and have been enraged for almost two years now as they watch this country race at lightning speed toward a right-wing dystopia.

Conservatives just don't get it, but there are parts of this country (yes, the parts that the Republicans wish would disappear) where Trump has become the most hated man in American history.

To Democrats, this is what the Republican Party looks like:



Lives are literally at stake in this election.

[Zaybay]

Until we start to decentralize power from DC back to the states, the value of the prize of control of the federal government will continue to grow and the measures taken to make sure the preferred tribe gets to wield it will continue to escalate

Our federalist system is and continues to be the answer.

The whole states idea is what got us into this mess in the first place. The states are gerrymandered, which let those who gerrymandered send their respective representatives. The states give more representation to rural areas in the senate and presidency via the electoral college. The states allow ideas such as voter suppression laws and voter roll destroying to pass. The states are not the solution to the problems at the federal level, in fact, they may be the root cause, in a way.

I am not saying to do away with state rights, but the idea that its the Federal Gov.'s fault so we need to decentralize obscures the many accomplishments made at the federal level that could not be done else ware.

[Virginiá]

I do think Republican voters have been enjoying their substantial amounts of power gained under Obama without fully considering or appreciating the negative, anti-democratic policies / behavior their elected officials have been aggressively pursuing to lock in said power. What power you have is important but equally important is how you got that power. You can't just keep breaking rules, cheating and putting a boot on the neck of the rest of the country to ensure your own success without creating huge issues down the road.

I just wish that they would give a crap about this at some point. All of this could stop if they just committed to change, and it doesn't necessarily mean they would slip into the minority either. But even if it did, what does that say about their power to begin with? If you have to rig the system to hold power, then you are the problem and the country will suffer in the long-term because of it.

If these people feel their issues are so important and so "threatened" that they need to do whatever it takes to ensure they get what they want, then they need to stop pretending like they care about freedom and democracy, because their idea of elections is not at all compatible.

[darklordoftech]

Until we start to decentralize power from DC back to the states, the value of the prize of control of the federal government will continue to grow and the measures taken to make sure the preferred tribe gets to wield it will continue to escalate

Our federalist system is and continues to be the answer.

I also think that it would help if state governments had better media outreach and the ability to deficit spend.

[twenty42]

Why are you crying? According to Atlas, we are on the verge of a permanent Democratic majority...

[Dr. Arch]

Why are you crying? According to Atlas, we are on the verge of a permanent Democratic majority...

You are part of the problem.

Until we start to decentralize power from DC back to the states, the value of the prize of control of the federal government will continue to grow and the measures taken to make sure the preferred tribe gets to wield it will continue to escalate

Our federalist system is and continues to be the answer.

I also think that it would help if state governments had better media outreach and the ability to deficit spend.

See how the Kochs have basically bought the state of Wisconsin's government for an example of how this model can easily backfire in a divide-and-conquer scenario. There has to be a balance.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Why are you crying? According to Atlas, we are on the verge of a permanent Democratic majority...

[Tekken_Guy]

The backlash is coming and it’s going to come HARD. The GOP is in for a megatsunami. They sealed their own fate after Charlottesville and their long term future with Parkland. James Alex Fields and Nikolas Cruz did more damage to the GOP than Trump himself ever could.

[Reaganfan]

I kinda think I see where liberals are coming from. They believe the country elected Bill Clinton twice, then elected Al Gore, then Bush won (but should have never been there), then the country twice elected Obama and then a year and a half ago elected Hillary Clinton.

They believe the country is more left than right. That the only reason the Supreme Court is right is because of George W. Bush and Donald Trump putting Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and another conservative on the courts, and that those should have been Al Gore and Hillary Clinton (or Obama) appointments.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I genuinely believe the current constitutional order won't survive the next 50 years. Either we're going to fix things and enact reforms like proportional representation and abolition of the Senate and Electoral College in order to actually make government representative, or else we're going to fall into some form of overt autocracy.

Not going to make a bet on which.

So our choice is a tyrannical super legislature or the tyranny of an autocracy.


I prefer a third third option. Make the institutions represent the interest groups they were suppose to. Expand the house, eliminate gerrymandering; and reform the filibuster, campaign finance etc etc.

The Senate is most likely not going to abolished. The Senate filibuster on the other hand...

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I kinda think I see where liberals are coming from. They believe the country elected Bill Clinton twice, then elected Al Gore, then Bush won (but should have never been there), then the country twice elected Obama and then a year and a half ago elected Hillary Clinton.

They believe the country is more left than right. That the only reason the Supreme Court is right is because of George W. Bush and Donald Trump putting Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and another conservative on the courts, and that those should have been Al Gore and Hillary Clinton (or Obama) appointments.

It is kind of hard to question the legitimacy of Roberts and Alito on those grounds considering they came after Bush won reelection with a majority of the popular vote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Why are you crying? According to Atlas, we are on the verge of a permanent Democratic majority...

You are part of the problem.

Until we start to decentralize power from DC back to the states, the value of the prize of control of the federal government will continue to grow and the measures taken to make sure the preferred tribe gets to wield it will continue to escalate

Our federalist system is and continues to be the answer.

I also think that it would help if state governments had better media outreach and the ability to deficit spend.

See how the Kochs have basically bought the state of Wisconsin's government for an example of how this model can easily backfire in a divide-and-conquer scenario. There has to be a balance.

The only reason things are more difficult in Washington is because of the filibuster, bicameralism and the factionalism within the GOP, otherwise it would be just Wisconsin.

[Reaganfan]

I kinda think I see where liberals are coming from. They believe the country elected Bill Clinton twice, then elected Al Gore, then Bush won (but should have never been there), then the country twice elected Obama and then a year and a half ago elected Hillary Clinton.

They believe the country is more left than right. That the only reason the Supreme Court is right is because of George W. Bush and Donald Trump putting Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and another conservative on the courts, and that those should have been Al Gore and Hillary Clinton (or Obama) appointments.

It is kind of hard to question the legitimacy of Roberts and Alito on those grounds considering they came after Bush won reelection with a majority of the popular vote.

Oh I agree, and their premise is incorrect. They think Bush and Trump didn't win the election, even though in America, they most certainly did since we elect our Presidents based on the electoral college, not the popular vote. In Trump's case, he won the electoral college by a rather sizable majority.

[wesmoorenerd]

I kinda think I see where liberals are coming from. They believe the country elected Bill Clinton twice, then elected Al Gore, then Bush won (but should have never been there), then the country twice elected Obama and then a year and a half ago elected Hillary Clinton.

They believe the country is more left than right. That the only reason the Supreme Court is right is because of George W. Bush and Donald Trump putting Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and another conservative on the courts, and that those should have been Al Gore and Hillary Clinton (or Obama) appointments.

It is kind of hard to question the legitimacy of Roberts and Alito on those grounds considering they came after Bush won reelection with a majority of the popular vote.

Oh I agree, and their premise is incorrect. They think Bush and Trump didn't win the election, even though in America, they most certainly did since we elect our Presidents based on the electoral college, not the popular vote. In Trump's case, he won the electoral college by a rather sizable majority.

Republicans have this deluded fantasy that the left thinks that Bush and Trump are legally illegitimate Presidents because they lost the popular vote. Nobody is actually trying to dispute that, they're simply advocating for ending the broken system of the Electoral College in the first place. From a legal standpoint, of course Bush and Trump are legitimate Presidents. From an ethical standpoint, they got to that office by exploiting a broken system that undermines the values of democracy.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Lives are literally at stake in this election.

[DC Al Fine]

Lives are literally at stake in this election.

Of course we can play this game going back to the beginning of the country:

Abortion = lives at stake
Literally every war = lives at stake
Heck you could argue free silver = lives at stake.

[RFayette]

Lives are literally at stake in this election.

Of course we can play this game going back to the beginning of the country:

Abortion = lives at stake
Literally every war = lives at stake
Heck you could argue free silver = lives at stake.

This.  And if people think that politics surrounding redistricting and the Supreme Court are nasty, look at the statehood battles in the 1800's, which were incredibly partisan. 

[forgotten manatee]

I kinda think I see where liberals are coming from. They believe the country elected Bill Clinton twice, then elected Al Gore, then Bush won (but should have never been there), then the country twice elected Obama and then a year and a half ago elected Hillary Clinton.

They believe the country is more left than right. That the only reason the Supreme Court is right is because of George W. Bush and Donald Trump putting Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and another conservative on the courts, and that those should have been Al Gore and Hillary Clinton (or Obama) appointments.

See, this type of arrogance drives me nuts. You say all that, but then your party fails to even recognize mandates for Democrats when they do win elections. I'll never forget 2008, when the Republicans lost the popular vote AND electoral college, and then proceeded to act like the Obama administration had no legitimacy, and were determined to do everything possible to make it a one term anomaly. And then people like you have the gall say that its people like me who just want to cover their ears and ignore the accomplishments and actions of Republican administrations. Honestly Reaganfan, you are part of the problem.