Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Steve Benen had an excellent post last week on the norms of American governance, and how the economic terrorists in the Tea-Publican Party have rejected these fundamental norms. Elections used to have consequences:
It may seem like ages ago, but about 10 months ago, the United States
held national elections. One party, the Republican Party, ran on a
fairly specific platform, near the top of which was a promise to destroy
the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. Their rivals, the Democratic
Party, also had a platform, which included preservation of the
Affordable Care Act.
The "American people" were asked to make a choice. And they did.
At the presidential level, the Democratic candidate won with relative ease, and became only the sixth
presidential candidate in American history to win 51% of the popular
vote twice. In the U.S. Senate, Democrats not only held their majority
for the fourth consecutive election cycle, they also unexpectedly added
seats. In the U.S. House, Democratic candidates collectively won 1.4 million more votes than Republican candidates.
These
are not minor details. We have a constitutional system of government
and free national elections in which we, the people, help set a course
for our country. GOP candidate made their case, lost, and forfeited
their claims to a popular mandate.
And yet, when it came time to govern, Republicans decided it was still
time to pursue an aggressive, right-wing agenda, predicated on
manufactured crises, extortion politics, a misguided culture war, and
non-negotiable demands.
We've all heard the "elections have
consequences" adage many times, but let's be clear about what we're
witnessing in 2013: Republicans are very clearly telling the country,
"No, actually, elections don't have consequences. We're still going to do as we please."
Democracies aren't supposed to work this way.
What we are witnessing is fundamentally undemocatic, and un-American. It is an unprecendented radical extremism that should not be tolerated in the world's greatest democracy.
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Well, truthfully, the teahadists are right. Elections do have consequences, particularly elections held in census years, because then the winners get to decide how the votes are allocated. 2010 was not a bad year for Democrats, it was an utter catastrophe for Americans, because the people who won in 2010 decided how to keep themselves in office.
It fundamentally doesn’t matter that Democrats won more votes than the Republicans did for Congress, because Congress is not a nation-wide election. It DOES matter because it demonstartes the absolute and lasting power that arises when you get to decide how states are re-districted.