A central tension in our politics is this we have 1 political party that cares about upholding democracy, whereas the other party's aims can only be achieved thru undermining democracy. This is coupled w/ the fact that 1 party cares about people's well-being & the other does not
These 2 facts lead to a situation in which, in order to both uphold democracy & advance well-being, 1 party is dedicated to a functional gov't & the other party is well-served by a dysfunctional government. Such dysfunction is both instrumental & ideological (anti-government)
And then, of course, we have gerrymandering + a cap on the House of reps, 2 Senators per state, & the electoral college. A set of circumstances that gives massively disproportionate power to the anti-democracy & anti-well-being party.
Taken together, the structural issues in our electoral system, deep ideological divides about government/democracy, & the differential investment in advancing citizens' well-being does leave Democrats at a perpetual disadvantage.
A firefighter who is looking at a burning house & trying to decide whether to concentrate on stopping the fire from spreading or to save a child at the expense of a grandmother is facing a fundamentally different set of choices than the person who lit the fire in the first place
In our politics, this is no where more evident than the advantage the GOP has in negotiations over government shutdowns. They shut it down to advance harmful actions (anti-healthcare; anti-immigration) & they don't care about the workers & others who suffer in the meantime.
People who care about functioning government, preventing harmful policies, & the livelihoods of workers are at an extreme disadvantage when faced with such nihilism. What do we sacrifice? What do we give to these immoral goons who desire destruction & don't care about harm?
The answers are not easy, just as most morally-informed choices are not easy. & I don't think the Democrats always make the best decisions. But we need to be clear about these dynamics in order to be informed about the best options available to us in these unequal negotiations.
&, finally, we need to be clear about these tensions in order to shift the dynamics. We must remove the GOP from power & chip away at their disproportionate access to power. That means voting. Constantly. The fight for democracy is a generational project, not a short term one
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