Interesting take on the current state of US politics in general and the GOP in particular, written by a recently retired GOP Congressional staffer.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-refle...cult/1314907779

The thing that bothers me about this type of analysis is that there seems to be a need for equivalency. Both parties don't play well. That's an intellectually lazy point of view. And any thinking, intelligent person would instantly know that one party, the Democrats are dysfunctional but truly care about the country; and the other, the Republicans, are bat-shit crazy and don't care if they bring down the government and create lasting havoc.

One party knows how policies play out. The other obviously doesn't as they continue to advocate policies that have proven to not work, i.e. low taxes/no regulation, abstinence only, etc....

One party wants people to have a choice in their moral decisions, the other wants to impose its christian will on the entire country.

I could go on and on.

The tragic point is that the Dems don't seem to have the skills to make these distinctions.

No, I think it is fair to say that both parties are lacking in true leadership.

Amen, and I wish I had an answer. The clock is ticking. I wonder how much more our society, as we know it, can take before chaos ensues. In all my life, I've never seen it this bad, with no solution.

There isn't "no solution." Electing candidates who do not owe their elections to corporate donors would go a long way toward implementing mature, problem-sloving legislation. Unfortunately, we have a Supreme Court that has ruled cash = speech in campaign funding.

Damn both parties in this duopoly to hell.

Yes there's frustration with both parties and yes both parties could do better, but they're not just different sides of the same coin.

If the Dems had the House, 61 in the Senate and the Presidency, we wouldn't be talking about the things we're talking about now.

There's a distinct difference in how each party views citizens. The Republicans have opposed every measure that benefits the majority of the country during this President's term. They're willing to see the country fail in the hope that it will give them a political advantage.

As many issues as I have with the Dems, they at least have some ideas to help most Americans.

Agreed...and my no solutions comment was more in regards to the economic recovery, or lack thereof. I don't see any solutions on the horizon to kickstart the economy...the old stand-by, construction, is down in the dumps thanks to the continued inventory of foreclosed homes. The system is nowhere near being flushed of the foreclosures, which continues to drag that sector down, which, in turn, continues to drag the general economy down. I'm still seeing the downward spiral, as if we haven't even hit bottom yet. That scares me more than anything...

Baloney. The Dems had a bigger majority for two years and all we got was a crappy heathcare bill that gilds the vaults of insurance companies.

With the new destroy the country Republicans the Dems didn't have the Senate. The only reason some things got cloture votes was the fact they had a simple majority...but in this day and age really controlling the Senate means 61.


If the Dems had truly controlled the Senate we would have had a bigger stimulus and that may have been enough. Instead we didn't do enough and now lots of those things are expiring causing a further drag on the economy.

Of course our tax policy allowing flight of capital to havens is another reason.

If you really believed that you wouldn't be discussing the issue.
Precisely. And there is an election coming up in which we can try to overcome that system. It was done once before after the Great Depression and it can be done again.
We would all go along with them if the system is not changed. We have no choice but to change it or perish with it.