This handful of people thinks they can enforce their will on 300 million Americans? They’re not gonna do that. This is dictatorial, what they are doing. We are not compelled to follow a non-law just because Obama and Pelosi tells us we have to.
Sarah Palin and a crapload of other Republicans also claim the government is passing legislation that is the opposite of what EVERYONE IN AMERICA WANTS.
I don’t understand how they can claim no one in America wants this stuff when we clearly voted Democrats into majority office based on this platform. In fact, I’d dare-say Congress & the President are doing what 200 million Americans wanted yet Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman claim to represent everyone. Why/How are they getting away with this? I don’t see anyone in mainstream journalism calling these people what they are - flat out liars.
The greatest threat to American democracy is that apparently a lot of people can’t seem to distinguish between losing an election/vote and tyranny. Mind you, it’s not just the lunatic right that has this problem (the Bush years saw a similar reaction on the lunatic left), but they’re just the latest ones who lost an election. And the media is apparently more than happy to just sit by and serve as a vehicle for it.
Evangelical political rallies? Check. Legitimization of political violence? Check. Clear delineation between we “the Real people” and the evil “others” who are destroying/threatening our liberty/economy/future. Check. All the ingredients for a mass-movement leading to an actual dictatorship are in place - all that is required is the charismatic leader to organize the “people’s army”.
It would be a fascinating study in the breakdown (or resilience) of a democracy, if the consequences wouldn’t be so dire.
I’m pretty sure a study of Hitlers takeover in Germany can be used. It is a clear indicator of what happens when political parties are not transparent, and/or doesn’t care what they say as long as they get into power.
No two parties in the world could conceivably provide adequate representation of the interests of 300,000,000 people. If you think the symptom you described is a problem, the far greater one is that you guys act as if two parties could actually represent the interests of anyone at all, given your organisation.
They aren’t following the will of the real America, the part of it that is populated by real Americans… these people are entitled to have everything their way, regardless of what a few blow-ins might have voted for.
You’re mixing up a couple of things there. The Republican talking point right now is that nobody wants the health care plan, and they’re kind of right. That thing is poison at this point. The public is so sick and tired of hearing it and it has been so thoroughly crapped on by any and every commentator to the far end of either side of the aisle that something like ten billion percent of all humans want it to just go the hell away. In that claim, they are factually correct, and trying to argue that there is a broad public acceptance of the bill is going to be a losing fight. In the beginning, it’s possible that they simply willed this opposition into being by claiming so hard that it existed that reality bowed to their will, but now it IS the case, which is why I suspect you’re going to see Democrats trying to talk about anything else they possibly can between now and November so that the public can forget this ever happened and get around to liking the fact that their insurance company can’t kick them for having undeclared liver parasites or whatever the bill does.
The country is becoming polarized into two separate factions
Each faction denies that the other one even exists, or if they do acknowledge their existence, it is in the context of marginalizing and belittling them
Each faction believes that they are in the majority
3a) Based on evidence from the 2000 and 2004 elections, they are both wrong
Uhm… disconnected from the point? Where exactly in my post do you see any indication that I am from the US?
That aside, the US is not a two-party system by law - it’s simply the way the people (or money, if you prefer) have made it to be. Much the same way that a lot of other democratic governments have ended up with a division of the political spectrum that is essentially two-party in practice, if not in principle.
How recent? As of Sunday, I was still hearing numbers that said The Health Care Package (not its constituent parts, mind you) was still polling below 50%.
There isn’t a majority that’s in favor, but there also isn’t a majority that’s against it. What I’ve seen indicates that more people are in favor of it than are against it, and among those who are against it there is a sizable percentage who are unhappy that it doesn’t go far enough. I really don’t think it’s intellectually honest for conservatives to point to that group as evidence that they’re in the right.
And of course, back when the public option was on the table there was actually a majority in favor of it. Then the non-stop fear-mongering started.
This has been beaten to death here, I’m kinda surprised to see you trotting it out again.
