Hawnjigs
KISS
Here are some published excerpts from "Its Even Worse Than it Looks" which is all I have time to peruse.
The authors:
"Thomas E. Mann, a luminary of the ever so slightly left-of-center Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein, an ornament of the somewhat more firmly right-of-center American Enterprise Institute"
Excerpts:
"We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party."
"The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges."
"It is no longer accurate to describe the Democrats as the liberal party and the Republicans as the conservative party. It’s closer to the truth to say that the Democrats are the conservative party and the Republicans the radical party."
My observation:
The Republicans are skilled manipulators of public opinion. Their incessant strategy of smearing and obstruction of "the other side" plays on one of OUR key subliminal triggers - the urge to blame someone for our problems. With our CEO discredited, WE are more likely to overlook obvious flaws in their rationale, like lowering taxes will reduce the deficit and deliberately gutting & bankrupting businesses is admirable "free enterprise". The goal of Republican players at the top appears to be solely self enrichment regardless of the consequences to US and our country.
The authors:
"Thomas E. Mann, a luminary of the ever so slightly left-of-center Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein, an ornament of the somewhat more firmly right-of-center American Enterprise Institute"
Excerpts:
"We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party."
"The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges."
"It is no longer accurate to describe the Democrats as the liberal party and the Republicans as the conservative party. It’s closer to the truth to say that the Democrats are the conservative party and the Republicans the radical party."
My observation:
The Republicans are skilled manipulators of public opinion. Their incessant strategy of smearing and obstruction of "the other side" plays on one of OUR key subliminal triggers - the urge to blame someone for our problems. With our CEO discredited, WE are more likely to overlook obvious flaws in their rationale, like lowering taxes will reduce the deficit and deliberately gutting & bankrupting businesses is admirable "free enterprise". The goal of Republican players at the top appears to be solely self enrichment regardless of the consequences to US and our country.
