Reply #42: Well, yes. It's the coalition politics that drives things. [View All]

[bemildred]

I have seen it theorized elsewhere that the Democratic party, around
1900 or so, was such a coalition of diverse - even contradictory -
interests, such that to rule it had to do nothing, and also to have
a suitable outside enemy, i.e. the Republicans. And while the
elements of the coalition have changed over time, the contradictions
and the need for an enemy remain. So in a sense the parties need
each other, as the US of the Cold War needed the Soviets and
regretted their loss. And the political system has been arranged, as
much as possible, to maintain that dynamic, that situation, because
real change would sweep them both away, and one could not long stand
without the other.

I think you are right in assessing the current prospects, but given
the folks in charge and the weakened state of the nation I expect it
will be worse than the 1970s this time around.

Edit: I might add, that this need to do nothing is what lies behind
the American political system's fondness for "deadlock", and of course
that means that the Republicans are in trouble, having no stops on
their sway, hence we should expect a access of strength and will
among the Democrats. Stay tuned.