washingtonmonthly.com — In the midst of a global financial crisis, Treasury Department offices sit empty because Senate Republicans have holds on nominations. In midst of a terrorist threat, a variety of a national security posts remain unfilled because Senate Republicans have holds on nominations.
Jan 19, 2010 View in Crawl 4
barackalypseJan 20, 2010
You only need to look to Europe to realize more parties doesn't make things better. The problem is Government, not the specific political structure of the Government. What you need is an even stronger Constitution that makes it perfectly clear what the Government can never do, and then you need the 4 Horsemen of the apocalypse to rain hellfire down upon anyone that even suggests the Government do something its not permitted.
gnarlycJan 20, 2010
That's not really relavant, since we are talking about the first year of the Obama administration. Brown is not there yet. They have had a supermajority for the first year and the positions have not been filled.
timthetaxmanJan 20, 2010
@paranor01Well there is certainly room for debate regarding if a single payer system is indeed better. I think it depends on what your objectives are.I also wouldn’t go so far as to say that the majority of US citizens want a single payer system either. Reform on various different issues, yes, a government-run overhaul, no. I’d say, at most, based on my discussions with people, only 30% want the government to run healthcare completely. You have to remember that culturally Americans are far more distrustful of government than many other people around the world.As far as term limits, I am not opposed to them, but I think it also has negatives that some people may not consider. For example, what if you have a great senator who is doing a super job? You would not be able to re-elect him or her.I don’t know if it is fair to limit corporate donations, because they have to do business in the environment created by the government. Without a doubt, they are going to want to make sure they at least have some influence in how events turn out. Of course, this leads to problems like corporate welfare and sweetheart deals. In the end, however, corporations do not vote and if the people become dissatisfied they can remove those they find to be too corrupt.In my ideal world, government wouldn’t be terribly important to corporations anyway because government would not be involved much in the business world. Finally, I think that our internal bickering is healthy because we test ideas that might not even get floor time in many other countries were government is automatically assumed to be a good thing or something not to be questioned at all. In fact, It’s probably one of our greatest strengths. Anyone who suggests we would be better off as a dictatorship, a monarchy, or some other form where debate is abandoned in exchange for greater order finds that we, as an entire united country, cease our bickering and start fighting them.
spongya77Jan 20, 2010
They don't break statues.
amazingsteveJan 20, 2010
"either way you look at it BOTH parties are to blame..."Ahhhh the Republican catch all phrase for when they're NOT in power. Funny how that didn't apply during Junior's administration. Kinda like trotting out the old "it's un-American to criticize the President in time of War..." line whenever Junior painted himself into a corner.
txaggie08Jan 20, 2010
@Jordan The Dems were unwilling to even talk to the Republican or consider their ideas. They could barely even get their own party on board with the legislation and were completely unconcerned with compromise to build a truly bipartisan bill and indeed only spoke about bipartisanship to rally support but put no action behind these empty words. It isn't blind opposition, the Dems have been railroading pork laden bills through. Both sides do this but the Dems have been robbing the American people at an unprecedented rate. Taken together it would really be hard for Republican to vote for much of what the Dems have been trying to push through, even the relatively moderate ones. I was, as most people were, pretty disgusted with the 700 billion "stimulus bill" that had relatively little targeted to jump start the economy, and was mainly a giant giveaway to Dem special interest groups and pet projects. That's not to say I agree with everything the Republicans do, I have been pretty disgusted with how much in the pocket of the big telcos and cable companies the Republicans have been on the Net Neutrality issue.
xanxer82Jan 20, 2010
Dear Democrats,Grow a damn spine! The republicans did whatever the hell they pleased for the past 8 years before Obama took office. They had more double dealings and secret meetings then ever. That administration broke so many lawys and basically said to hell with the Constitution. The Obama administration needs to stop bowing down to republican demands and use executive orders to get things done if need be. Bush issued executive orders faster than he could blink, this administration should get things done and get them done right and publicly! Stop letting the republican senators push you all around!Yours Truly,A soon to be Independent Party Supporter.
4degreesJan 21, 2010
If I went around saying I was an emperor, because some moistened bint(?) had lobbed a scimitar at me, they would put me away!