i do truly believe we had some ownership of the legislative branch in the early '70s, which made possible things like the watergate response and the church hearings.
i view the jimmy carter presidency as an effort to give ownership of the executive to the public...with the legislature fighting it all the way.
if you are a social conservative, or you ascribe to a neo-con point of view, the past 30 years have been great--and the same is true if you value security over freedom (even though, as we all know, today we're seeing less of both).
will any real reform come out of the party structures? history says probably not...reform generally comes when the political class is dragged into it, often very much against their will, and occasionally at the barrel of a gun.
there is some hopeful news: small groups of extremists can move government a long way...which means government is not an immovable force...but it also suggests that reformers often need a long time horizon.
look at civil rights: what first became law in 1964 is incomplete today, but we have added to the initial protections as time went on, and we are about to embark on the enda debate (and another potential democratic cave-in) this year...maybe--which illustrates, i suppose, both a long time horizon and the "two steps forward, one step back" nature of things political.
"outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. inside of a dog it's too dark to read." --groucho marx
i do truly believe we had some ownership of the legislative branch in the early '70s, which made possible things like the watergate response and the church hearings.
i view the jimmy carter presidency as an effort to give ownership of the executive to the public...with the legislature fighting it all the way.
if you are a social conservative, or you ascribe to a neo-con point of view, the past 30 years have been great--and the same is true if you value security over freedom (even though, as we all know, today we're seeing less of both).
will any real reform come out of the party structures? history says probably not...reform generally comes when the political class is dragged into it, often very much against their will, and occasionally at the barrel of a gun.
there is some hopeful news: small groups of extremists can move government a long way...which means government is not an immovable force...but it also suggests that reformers often need a long time horizon.
look at civil rights: what first became law in 1964 is incomplete today, but we have added to the initial protections as time went on, and we are about to embark on the enda debate (and another potential democratic cave-in) this year...maybe--which illustrates, i suppose, both a long time horizon and the "two steps forward, one step back" nature of things political.
"outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. inside of a dog it's too dark to read." --groucho marx