"It's hard to see how any of this gets fixed in the next nine years"

[phantom power]

It's hard to see how any of this gets fixed in the next nine years. As long as the districts are adequately gerrymandered, there will be little electoral accountability for the bad behavior of Republicans. If the press actually tells the truth about what is going on, a few more moderate voters will be swayed, but it likely won't be enough to boot Republicans out of the majority in the House and the right will feel more emboldened to fight against the "liberal media." Most of the pressure on Republicans will still come from the right, which will descend further and further into its echo chamber with little to no tether to reality.

This is why the parallels to the 1850s and 1860s keeping popping up. In a normal democracy, a delusional 35% of the public shouldn't be able to hold the other 65% of the country hostage. But if you gerrymander the districts enough, enforce a 60-vote threshold in an unrepresentative body that emphasizes rural states; if you allow enough corporate money in elections; and if you create an entirely separate media echo chamber for that 35% to live in, you just might get it done.

I don't see the mechanism by which any of this improves. The best bet is for activists in contested congressional districts to work their tails off to pick off as many seats as possible, while blue states make Obamacare and other liberal priorities work in order to create contrasts with red states. Over the next nine years, angry progressives need to focus on winning back statehouses so that the gerrymandering can be reversed in 2022 alongside major demographic shifts. We already saw this work in California.

If those things can take place, then we may be in for a very long nine years. But at least we have a hope of waking from the nightmare at the end. The only problem is how much damage the dead enders will be able to do in nine years. An entire generation's prospects will be ruined, and it will probably be too late by then to reverse catastrophic climate change.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/dan-froomkin-nails-both-sides-do-it.html

[elleng]

1. Sad but true.

[gopiscrap]

2. I fully agree

[Lucinda]

3. ACA could actually change this. Once people realize the benefits

they just might be less likely to want to vote for someone who vows to take it away....or not. But it could happen.

[Scuba]

4. Gee, if only there was something the Democrats could do to appeal to the 50% who don't vote ...

... something like run on a platform of:

... Medicare for All, including dental, optical and hearing aids

... Strengthening and expanding Social Security

... Living wage

... Legalized pot

... Big cuts to defense/homeland/spy agency spending

... Increasing taxes on the wealthy


Not only would traditional Democratic voters show up, but so would tens of millions of the currently disaffected. We have to stand for something besides "not the Republican".

[Hydra]

5. Nah, we can't have that!

It would mean we would actually have to DO some of those things, and that would be bad for the 1%.

We may as well just struggle along as a party and plead with republicans to vote for us...cuz that's the only Practical(tm) thing to do!