It took 30 years and a deal with the Donald for the Republican Party to ram its conservative court from dreamland to reality. That America now has a conservative and highly political court designed to chip away at civil, economic, and privacy protection cornerstones is the fault of democrats. Grandstanding donkeys who claim otherwise are trying to save their jobs. Democrats were sleeping and trying to win PR battles, while the GOP was relentless in its goal: stack the legal deck.
Conservatism owns one of the three branches of the United States Government. They plotted for decades, which is why there was no way in hell they would not push Kavanaugh through. They won, pure and simple. As such, we must give kudos to republicans for their dedication and political savvy. While I think it’s the worst possible outcome for human rights, pluralism, and an educated electorate who understand trite concepts like fact vs. fiction — we must give credit where credit is due. Ugly… and painful… as it was, republicans won the SCOTUS battle that gives them authority to keep winning regardless of what voters think.
To the majority of Americans who disagree with how republicans exploit rules of governing: it’s vital to know that this is not the end of the GOP long con. Now that Republicans have generation-long control over of one-third of the U.S. government, what happens next? POLITUSIC’s theory: republicans get permanence in the Senate while progressively giving more power to the majority party of that body.
Is it possible that in the 2018 mid-term election democrats can win a razor-thin majority in the Senate? Yes. But once again, democrats miss the point: republicans think long term. Democrats can’t seem to see beyond their own navels.
Fundamentally, it’s a simple matter of enhancing the culture war. Culture, geography, education, and the 2-senators-per-state design of the Senate can give much more power-permanence than gerrymandered congressional districts. Look at any map of America: the ideological divide between city and country has been getting larger since republicans began their court jihad long ago. What was once a simple matter of birth location has mutated into unbreakable team loyalty and less higher-thinking than drunken fans at a football match.
POLITUSIC has ranted endlessly about the conservative vs. progressive brain — fear and conspiracy vs. hope and exploration, respectively. Traits of the former trap people where they are, while the latter encourages movement. Populations of nations shift, separate, and settle like oil and water.
Exploiting population geography is the next battleground (and in case your head is in the sand, it’s already started by means of the Republican Party’s attack on the census… that’s not solely about purging voters).
Start here: birth rates and population movement favor conservatism in the Senate. As conservatism digs deeper into the land by means of multi-generational communities, liberals move to more concrete pastures. Red states spread wide and thin, while blue states narrow and become more dense. Isolated, low-population states aren’t good if you want to win the popular vote, but they’re great if the goal is to control the Senate.
Add a connecting dot here: political beliefs are a matter of peer pressure, not individualism. Humans love to claim intelligent independence, but at the end of the day humans are social animals who want to be accepted by the tribe. When thrown into a new environment, people convert everything from their clothes and hair styles, to their accents, religion, politics and worldview. We’ve all seen it, and we’ve all done it: we first adopt the beliefs of our parents, and then of our peers. Communities worship, dress, think, speak, and eat alike. Assimilation is the core of community.
End here: divide America into blue states and red states, and as a matter of geography the only logical result is there will always be more red states than blue. Always. That means republicans – conservative republicans — will consistently have a majority in the US Senate. It’s clear that the shadow-dwellers inside the Republican Party know this, and as such, the next step is to shift as much ruling power as possible to the Senate.
I’m not a process wonk. I don’t know what tweaks to senate rules (like diminishing all actions to simple majority votes) republicans will push through. I don’t know how laws can be targeted, nor court cases decided to subtly shift power to the Senate — but it will happen. The Republican Party has proven itself the superior long-term strategist, and it’s dedicated enough to make it happen. Democrats lack that dedication.
Mitch McConnell’s view of political legacy is permanence — create something that extends beyond the petty desires of the electorate — and he is relentless. Given the frazzled state of the Democratic Party and conservative majority of SCOTUS, you can bet your MAGA hat and RESIST bumper sticker he will win again.
No wonder he’s smiling.
