Can a nation remain a superpower if its internal politics are incorrigibly stupid?
 

Asks E.J. Dionne in a piece in today's WashPost.

I think we need to take our country back from the folks who want to take our country back.

This line from the op ed says it all.

"The notion that when we are fighting two wars, we're not supposed to consider raising taxes on such Americans is one sign of a country that's no longer serious."

He's right. This country has turned into a damned freak show.

John

And, my God! I had no idea just how.... marginal would be the polite term.... these Republicans are!

"41 senators representing less than 11 percent of the nation's population can, in principle, block action supported by 59 senators representing more than 89 percent of our population."

John

I'm not sure I any longer support the notion of a bicameral legislature. Maybe we can all learn something from, of all places, Nebraska.

Clearly, the Senate has been problematic since the founding of our country. The direct election of Senators wasn't originally a part of the Constitution. Rather, they were appointed by the respective state governments. The Seventeenth Amendment changed that. Maybe it's finally time to offer an amendment to eliminate the Senate altogether.

John

If we end the Senate then Federalism is dead. Never get the 2/3rds anyway :)

Pete

You're almost certainly right about the 2/3. You're probably right about Federalism too but I'm not sure how much I'd care about that (living as I do in California ;)). We have to do something to curtail the power of the Senate, relative to that of the House. Our bicameral legislature is seriously out of whack when a minority of one house can thwart the will of the majority of the other.

John

You do realize that when the healthcare thing was on and Sen Baucus had a committee working ofn the Senate version, his committee represnted 3% of the population. What exactly do you expect from such an insane form of gummint?:rolleyes:

careful about saying this, in the past this has really pissed off the "more radical" right wingers here.

But honest enough is enough and the red welfare states need to pull their own weight for once.

This guy's no in-dee-pend-ant.

The current crop of leaders didn't talk about how they were going to pay for the vast programs they ran on!

Pete