Reply #53: It Is One Of My Major Interests, My Friend [View All]

[The Magistrate]

Israel v. Palestine really is something of a sideline....

That there is a degree of collusion is certainly true, but it seems to me there is much less of it today than formerly. Where persons expect to have their own hands on the machinery soon enough, they will have a certain reluctance to damage it, and just as it is difficult to damage a government without damaging the country it rules, it is difficult to damage a man in office without doing some damage to the office and its perquisites. Any democratic system is based on a couple of tacit pacts among all participants in it, namely, to agree to accept a loss that is unargueable, and to refrain from any practice so sharp you would fear its being used against you. Both of these, it seems to me, have been much eroded lately, and the Republican machine is the leading offender. It constitutes a real danger to our democracy, and they would not dare act in this way except that they feel certain of continual victory. But confidence in their tactical instrument, combined perhaps with hubris, is sufficient to explain this, without any need for the theory of collusion to present a puppet show to the populace.

The matter you refer to with Mr. Gore is an illustration. You will recall that the Senate soon to be seated was an oddity, with fifty from each party, so that there was no true majority, save that Cheney would be able to break ties. In light of this, there were some negociated accommodations arranged between the Senate leaderships of each party, modifying somewhat the usual majority v. minority arrangements. Certainly one of the elements of this bargaining was that no countenance be given to the House attempts you mentioned by members of the out-going Senate. The bargain may well be viewed as a poor one, but Mr. Gore stuck to it, while the Republican leadership rather chisled once the new session began. Mr. Gore probably ought to have expected that, but a gentleman is often at a certain disadvantage in dealing with rogues. That indeed, is one of our problems....