Much has been said about whether Democrats should pay the Republicans back for their arbitrary blocking of President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee. Or if they should just pay the GOP back for 8 years of obstructionism across the board, which they had to suffer under President Obama.
In the four years following the signing of Obamacare, House Republicans voted 54 times to repeal, defund or cripple Obamacare, when they had no replacement or alternative ready to go. They continue to display a lack of a clear path to action now that they have a House majority.
The American Jobs Act, the Buffett Rule, Cap and Trade and the DREAM Act were only some of the legislative efforts blocked by Republican filibustering, which was used to an unprecedented degree. To make matters worse, and Democrats even more resentful, prominent Republicans were ready to eliminate filibustering one day after the election.
Yes I know it’s hard to overlook the irony and the hypocrisy in the whole thing, and it’s hard not to condone the same behavior by the Democrats from an objective point of view. I mean, it worked for the Republicans right? They control the House, the Senate and they got the President of the United States.
Wrong. Eight years of obstructionism, a lack of civility and symbolic votes with no action, got the Republican Party taken over by a former “activist investor” known for executing hostile takeovers of major companies, among other things.
The issue was taken up at the latest “Real Time with Bill Maher,” where Seth MacFarlane talked about his fear that “instead of trying to tug things back in the direction of civility and dignity and nobility, that the Democrats will say, this is obviously the way things are now, what do we do to counter it?”
If Democrats decide to replicate the Republicans’ obstructionist policies, and decide to dedicate their legislative efforts to block and hinder every single effort by their counterparts in the House and Senate, further cultivating the division in American politics, they should expect to get similar results.
Sure there will be many issues where the Democrats will greatly differ in ideological terms with the Trump administration and the Republican House and Senate, but what happens when and if the Infrastructure Plan ever comes around for example?
Will Democrats just try to block their efforts? Or will they open up the rusty doors of compromise?
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