"Why can't Biden just do stuff. The other one did. Just do stuff, the Constitution is so dumb." - What
Thanks for expressing this. We understand we aren't under authorarian rule. We understand that Biden can't just push whatever he wants. But you are exactly correct that it seems like the most minor obstacle is enough for his administration to give up on proposals and that Parliamentarian decision was a perfect example. It's as if they just play lip service. Democrats have less than 2 years before they don't have the power anymore to install their lip service desires like healthcare expansion, infrastructure, early childhood education etc. They aren't getting any of it done. It's a bear certainty. It's sad. Even with control of all three branches, this party is ineffective in pushing legislation. Part of me believes that because the GOP feels an extesenrial crisis due to demographic shifts, they will use whatever means necessary to push their agenda especially when it comes to voting restrictions. For Democrat politicians, they feel comfortable with the status quo. Therefore there just isn't enough motivation to push these desires. Only those who sincerely care about wealth inequality do have these desires but let's be honest with ourselves. Do people like Pelosi have any sincerity in these desires? Hell no. She's comfortable where she is at making money off her insider trading practices with her husband.
He’s only been on the job for about a college semester, and u expect him to have completely changed everything that’s wrong with this country? I just need the President to not be as incompetent as Bush or be a MAGA trash disciple I said it before, and I’ll say it again…if someone like Mitt Romney had become President in 2016, I would’ve just went on about my life…Trump was heading the country in a dangerous direction
It is dumb, but it isn't Joe Biden's fault. It IS a problem, and I suppose one could say that the American people don't think it is THAT big a deal or they would elect leaders that compromise better.
" "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the [Vietnam] War or Black," Ehrlichman said. "But by getting the public to associate the hippies with mar1juana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities." Despite those concerns, Democrats and Republicans partnered on the drug war decade after decade, approving ever-more-severe laws, creating new state and federal bureaucracies to interdict drugs, and funding new armies of police and federal agents. At times, the fight on America's streets resembled an actual war, especially in poor communities and communities of color. Police units carried out drug raids with military-style hardware that included body armor, assault weapons and tanks equipped with battering rams. "What we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam, not another limited war fought on the cheap," declared then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., in 1989. Biden, who chaired the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, later co-authored the controversial 1994 crime bill that helped fund a vast new complex of state and federal prisons, which remains the largest in the world. On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden stopped short of repudiating his past drug policy ideas but said he now believes no American should be incarcerated for addiction. He also endorsed national decriminalization of mar1juana. https://abc7.com/white-house-staffers-mar1juana-biden-fired-staffer/10433409/
He is just timid and afraid of questions right now. He will find his groove soon. He will create a synergy with the people running his administration.
It just seems like we will never break out of this paralysis which beggars the question... why pay attention? Why care? No substantive or meaningful legislation is going to come down concerning the most interesting/pressing topics... education reform/student loan crisis... healthcare... gun reform...entitlement expansion/reform... reforming defense spending/the military industrial complex... the really big/important issues.
That's the rub, Americans are so polarized and don't want compromise with the other side. So that's what we have.
They won't get fixed because there are too many interests preventing progress. That's why they remain broken.
Your point about the GOP operating on borrowed time is a good one. They feel the clock is running out, so they are more and more pressed to be aggressive. Conservatives also temperamentally understand and wield power better. They are less agreeable. They are more driven by ends than concerned with means. This is why, despite their love of order and structure, they will absolutely bulldoze inconvenient rules if they think it serves the greater, more permanent good. Meanwhile, Democrats are more concerned with staying in power than actually wielding it. They know that every active bit of legislation they put out will cost them seats, and nobody wants to die on that hill, even though they promised otherwise (looking in your direction AOC/Squad).
This is why politics is basically sport to most people nowadays. It's tribalistic theater centered around culture and not substance. What happens in Washington has very little to do with our day to day lives anymore because nothing gets done, and what does get accomplished only serves those at the very top of the food chain.
The parliamentarian ruling is minor compared to Sinema and Machin firm stance against the min wage hike. This also speak to the 50/50 split in the Senate. Machin is a Dem that have to act like a Republican to survive the next election. Dem has an extremely weak majority.
FWIW I don't think most people do follow it closely or care to the degree expected. Even those that do "care" only listen to sources that are favorable to their side. In the past it has taken serious and significant events to break us out of gridlock. The Great Depression and WWII are the only reason Roosevelt was able to be as powerful as he was. All of the infrastructure in the 40-50's was a result of coming out of WWII as well.
And facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BidenVotersLs/ And instagram. https://www.instagram.com/biden.ls/?hl=en
Yes DOJ is under the executive branch but no president has the authority to tell who and how to prosecute. I guess you had no problem with Trump directing Barr what to do right? Even if he does have a majority in the senate he can't count on all 50 votes and some things need more than a simple majority. Do you think a president can command senators to vote the way they want?
