RUTHFULLY YOURS

This piece by Washington Post writers is reasonable in a lot of respects.  It decries super-majorities in most states that essentially run roughshod over the minority party.  This is especially true in states like California, New York, and Illinois, and I am sure it is true in Republican states.

“American democracy is cracking. These forces help explain why.”

As the number of swing districts has declined, another phenomenon has become evident: Even in open-seat races, which historically have been more contested than those involving incumbents, the number of landslide victories by members of both major parties has increased dramatically. …

In just two states is the legislature split between Republicans and Democrats. In more than half of the states, the dominant party enjoys a supermajority, which means they can override vetoes by a governor of a different party or generally have their will on legislation.

Similarly, full control of state government — the legislature and the governor’s office — is the rule rather than the exception. Today 39 states fit this definition. The result is a sharper and sharper divergence in the public policy agendas of the states.

The dominant party has been able to move aggressively to enact its governing priorities. …

These divisions have made it possible for the dominant party to govern with little regard to the interests of those with allegiance to the minority party and often little accountability as well. The result is two Americas with competing agendas and values.

Then the writers say there is a gap between public opinion and public policy at the federal level, but they don’t point out which side is causing it.  He doesn’t say that a lot of the problem is because this president has been issuing executive orders at a rapid rate to force unpopular policies on the public.

For example, the public is not fond of bigger government, higher taxes, and more regulation.

The public doesn’t want poor children to be forced to stay in poorly performing public schools.

The public wants the government to enforce the border.

The public does not support abortion on demand at all stages of pregnancy.

The public does not want to pay massive amounts of money to green pushers and does not want to be forced to buy electric cars.

The public does not want women to be forced to compete against men in sports and does not want women to be forced to share their locker rooms with people who have a penis.

The public does not want a Justice Department that is clearly biased in the way it enforces our laws.

The gap between public policy and public opinion is one major consequence of today’s frozen federal government.

Then, while decrying super-majorities rolling over minorities, the writers are scared to death that small states can have influence in the Senate.  Democrats have had the goal to get rid of that pesky Electoral College for a long time.

“In comparison to European countries, our constitutional system is not well suited for polarized political parties,” said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at Stanford Law School. …

“In 2024, two of the nation’s least populous states — West Virginia and Montana — could flip control of the Senate from Democrats to Republicans, if GOP challengers prevail over Democratic incumbents.”

A significant cause of democracy cracking is we have a media establishment that is so biased that it will do anything it can to destroy Republicans while protecting a clearly incompetent and corrupt president like Biden, no matter what he does.

A media establishment that cared about the truth and free and fair elections would never have run with the fake Russian collusion story for years to destroy Trump.  Why did these outlets get Pulitzers for running a clearly false story when there was never any piece of evidence that indicated that the story was true?