(photo credit: thenation.com)
…we’re talking Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island). BTC just exposed the meaty part on his YouTube channel, though now I wanna watch the whole 28 mins from PBS Newshour I saw in my feed:
What he said in this clip is the thing that’s always bugged me about the decades of escalating partisanship and the increase of power for one party or a presidency over the other. Side A increases it, Side B howls. When Side B takes that ball and runs with it, Side A is howling at the unfairness.
They never think about when the shoe is on the other foot. I have honestly thought since 9/11 that when there’s a rule or stipulation or something that’s gonna go through Congress and become law or a way to conduct the business of governing, the folks drafting that item need to ask themselves one thing:
If the next election means the other party will get this power we’re trying to create now, will we be comfortable with them using it?
If the answer is “hells no”, then why the hell would you implement it? You open that door for yourself, the other side’s gonna use it too!
It reminds me of the wiretapping and such. Dubya went for it with the NSA and the Republican majority went for it. A lot of Democrats were pissed off. Then Obama got into office and kept the wiretapping going, and Republicans began to scream about overreach. Seriously, guys. You opened that door, did you really expect Obama NOT to walk through it? And it goes on and on, because stuff that was okay during the Obama administration were up for grabs in Dump’s.
This game of one-upmanship needs to stop. That’s why I will be dancing in the street if we ever got a president who wasn’t all about power and gave most of the expanded powers of the presidency back to the Congress where it’s supposed to reside. Of course, that would mean having congress people who are about being public servants and doing their duty rather than worrying about re-election campaigns and “what if I make the wrong decision?” the day after they take office.
There’s a distinct lack of courage in government, and it’s no wonder the authoritarian lovers are making themselves known loud and clear. I hope like hell some Republicans get the courage to say “No” to ACB on the court. This year’s already a punchline for “hindsight” jokes… it’s getting old.
The Chatty Introvert 
People who achieve a significant measure of power or control are easily seduced by the illusion that they will get to keep it. Until recently, the Democrats fell for it for about 40 years with regard to the Supreme Court. The Republicans fell for it when newt Gingrich kept talking about “The Permanent Majority”.
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It’s a puzzling thing. You have captured the gestalt of modern government. Personality overwhelms actual governing.
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Not just personality, but the finances involved in being an elected wh0re — every friggin’ day I get another ‘opportunity’ to ‘donate’ so that this one, or that one, or half the phuquing Congress has enough money to get re-elected … fast-forward 20 years and you read some little snippet about how those self-same elected NON-representatives are now worth OUR millions because we believed those slick lines they fed us — “Yes We Can!” … “but we’re not going to.” I think they all got into that line of work just to fleece we peons because they realize that if we give to them, or campaign for them, we’ll be a lot more likely to buy into the drivel they’re peddling — not realizing the only ‘entities’ they work for are the corporations and Wall St … remember what Obama said to the Wall St banksters right after he took the oath of office: “I’m the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks.”
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