This is such an thoughtful and illuminating thread. Thanks all for reading my column! My point, in response to Random, is that it would be anti-democratic to impeach Biden based on pre-presidential innuendo relating to his troubled son, because it would deprive voters of their choice under the same set of (non) facts. If new evidence arose to justify an impeachment, hypothetically, that would be different. But that’s the case for any president.
Through all this it amazes me that the Constitution does not enable the people to withhold their paychecks and perks. It amazes me that it is always primary voters who get to "pick" these people as representatives for the rest of us and that both parties have rigged the primary's and district maps to the detriment of the people. It amazes me that once in office they spend more time protecting their seats than actually doing any serious work for the people and yet the people really have no recourse in any of it.
I live in MyKevin's district. The people here are anxious for him to launch a full-scale investigation into "The Biden Crime Family." They are sure old Joe's been stealing them blind for years...
This is what happens in a district where fully half the populace never bothered to finish (or even start) high school, where Good Ol' Boys still run roughshod over law enforcement and the court system, and where 38-year-old grandmothers administer the county despite being unable to spell, write editable copy, or seemingly understand spoken English.
That said, a substantial portion of my redneck rancher neighbors are now gleefully following the travails of the misters trump and myKevin as they watch them metaphorically being pecked to death by chickens.
“The Biden Crime Family” is a construct of conspiracy theories promulgated by Donald Trump and repeated endlessly by Fox News and conservative media. It has no basis in empirical reality.
It is however an excellent example of projection where you project onto the opponent or opposition party the destructive and underhanded activities that you yourself are doing (especially if you’ve been caught red handed).
This short circuits and detours around the need to defend egregious behavior through examining the facts. If you accuse your opposition of behavior you are doing and relentlessly rage about how horrible they are, then most people will throw up their hands and conclude that everybody is crooked and ignore the actual truth.
People that are predisposed to support the actual offender through tribal loyalty will condemn and vilify the opposition plus minimize and totally disregard the offender’s culpability. People that are predisposed to be neutral or dislike the actual offender will equivocate both people’s reported behavior and be more tepid on supporting the innocent party.
Fox and Republicans have been doing this denial through projection and propaganda for decades. Trump honed it to a fine art and made it more extreme and effective.
A healthy democracy requires an informed populace to consider the facts and support what’s best. When half the electorate is living in an alternate reality of projection then the system cannot function. Autocratic kleptocracy takes over and the people suffer. Of course they’re so busy blaming the other side for the disfunction and paralysis that they can’t see what’s actually happening.
We need to get the government out of the political party administration. We the taxpayers should not be supporting the political party candidate selection. No taxpayer support for caucuses or primaries. Let everyone who meets the minimum qualifications and wants to run be on the general election ballot. Then let us all make the choice through ranked-choice voting.
Constiutionally, they do have recourse. They could vote these clowns out of office. The problem is the party system that developed, starting almost immediately after the introduction of the Constitution. Tribalism prevents empathy and co-operation, both of which are required for good governance.
With the primary elections rigged the people cannot vote them out. Write in candidates so rarely win, third party candidates rarely win. Since the primary elections are rigged the regular voters only get a choice over the rigged candidates that the primary's give us. So, technically yes, the Constitution let's us vote them out but in the real world we do not have that option.
Just look at my district in VA. We don't get a primary choice anymore for the House. You have to travel 3 hours away to place a vote in the Primary. That is how the VA Republican Committee got rid of Riggleman, we didn't get to choose in our county who we wanted to represent us! Because we have a very conservative district the VA Republicans Committee chose who would be the rep for the House not the people. Now we can't get rid of him!!!!!
This is such an thoughtful and illuminating thread. Thanks all for reading my column! My point, in response to Random, is that it would be anti-democratic to impeach Biden based on pre-presidential innuendo relating to his troubled son, because it would deprive voters of their choice under the same set of (non) facts. If new evidence arose to justify an impeachment, hypothetically, that would be different. But that’s the case for any president.
.
Kim Wehle: "Assuming that no shocking new evidence arises in connection with McCarthy’s inquiry, it’s arguably undemocratic, as well."
Huh? What does finding or not finding evidence have to do with whether the inquiry is democratic or undemocratic?
If shocking new evidence does arise, it should be considered the fruit of a poisoned tree, because the inquiry IS a priori undemocratic
.
This is a devastating analysis, but, of course, it is irrelevant. Republican politics today are just war by other means and the Republic be damned.
Through all this it amazes me that the Constitution does not enable the people to withhold their paychecks and perks. It amazes me that it is always primary voters who get to "pick" these people as representatives for the rest of us and that both parties have rigged the primary's and district maps to the detriment of the people. It amazes me that once in office they spend more time protecting their seats than actually doing any serious work for the people and yet the people really have no recourse in any of it.
I live in MyKevin's district. The people here are anxious for him to launch a full-scale investigation into "The Biden Crime Family." They are sure old Joe's been stealing them blind for years...
This is what happens in a district where fully half the populace never bothered to finish (or even start) high school, where Good Ol' Boys still run roughshod over law enforcement and the court system, and where 38-year-old grandmothers administer the county despite being unable to spell, write editable copy, or seemingly understand spoken English.
That said, a substantial portion of my redneck rancher neighbors are now gleefully following the travails of the misters trump and myKevin as they watch them metaphorically being pecked to death by chickens.
“The Biden Crime Family” is a construct of conspiracy theories promulgated by Donald Trump and repeated endlessly by Fox News and conservative media. It has no basis in empirical reality.
It is however an excellent example of projection where you project onto the opponent or opposition party the destructive and underhanded activities that you yourself are doing (especially if you’ve been caught red handed).
This short circuits and detours around the need to defend egregious behavior through examining the facts. If you accuse your opposition of behavior you are doing and relentlessly rage about how horrible they are, then most people will throw up their hands and conclude that everybody is crooked and ignore the actual truth.
People that are predisposed to support the actual offender through tribal loyalty will condemn and vilify the opposition plus minimize and totally disregard the offender’s culpability. People that are predisposed to be neutral or dislike the actual offender will equivocate both people’s reported behavior and be more tepid on supporting the innocent party.
Fox and Republicans have been doing this denial through projection and propaganda for decades. Trump honed it to a fine art and made it more extreme and effective.
A healthy democracy requires an informed populace to consider the facts and support what’s best. When half the electorate is living in an alternate reality of projection then the system cannot function. Autocratic kleptocracy takes over and the people suffer. Of course they’re so busy blaming the other side for the disfunction and paralysis that they can’t see what’s actually happening.
Yeah, I know that, but try explaining that to Kevin's loyal followers.
We need to get the government out of the political party administration. We the taxpayers should not be supporting the political party candidate selection. No taxpayer support for caucuses or primaries. Let everyone who meets the minimum qualifications and wants to run be on the general election ballot. Then let us all make the choice through ranked-choice voting.
Constiutionally, they do have recourse. They could vote these clowns out of office. The problem is the party system that developed, starting almost immediately after the introduction of the Constitution. Tribalism prevents empathy and co-operation, both of which are required for good governance.
With the primary elections rigged the people cannot vote them out. Write in candidates so rarely win, third party candidates rarely win. Since the primary elections are rigged the regular voters only get a choice over the rigged candidates that the primary's give us. So, technically yes, the Constitution let's us vote them out but in the real world we do not have that option.
Just look at my district in VA. We don't get a primary choice anymore for the House. You have to travel 3 hours away to place a vote in the Primary. That is how the VA Republican Committee got rid of Riggleman, we didn't get to choose in our county who we wanted to represent us! Because we have a very conservative district the VA Republicans Committee chose who would be the rep for the House not the people. Now we can't get rid of him!!!!!