You know when it all went wrong?

[Cresent City Kid]

The summer of 2009, early in Obama's first term. The Dems had the White House, the House of Representatives and 60 Senators for a very short time, from July 7th when Al Franken was sworn in to August 25th when Ted Kennedy passed away. For the most part, this was the only time anything could get done.To make matters worse, Kennedy's seat went to Scott Brown keeping the Senate number at 59, not enough to prevent filibuster, and only went down from there.

The 2010 midterms were a double whammy, not only giving the republicans the House, but giving them the levers of gerrymandering in a census year.

Whether what could have been passed were true blue liberal laws or those of a third way blue dog nature, there was a small chance to get non-republican policies in place and gridlock since then. Maybe the Affordable Care Act and Dodd/Frank were important enough to use up this small window of time. What I find sadly humorous is the conventional "wisdom" that this election was indicative of opposition to the President's policies as if he was able to enact any of them.

[YarnAddict]

1. Well,

if Dodd Frank, and especially the ACA, hadn't been so wildly unpopular, Scott Brown wouldn't have won, and the Democratic majority would have continued. Remember, he ran on a platform of being the vote that would KILL the ACA, and he collected $$$ from all across the country. So, yes, the Republican wins in Brown's election, in 2010, and this year, all indicate that the voters (those who actually bothered to vote, that is) were in opposition to President Obama's policies on healthcare, immigration, Ebola, foreign policy . . .

[Carolina]

2. No, it went wrong

earlier than that. While I will always feel that the assassination of JFK changed this nation dramatically, truth is, the right has always been hateful. During JFK's visit to Texas, there were hateful ads in the newspapers as well as threats which is why the droves of happy, cheering people at events and along the motorcade route were such a surprise.

After his death and the social change of the mid to late 60s -- civil rights, voting rights, Vietnam war protests -- the right rebelled, embraced Nixon's southern strategy and restrictive law and order promise. they embraced hate of the new social order. Then, just a little bit later came the Reagan revolution with racism (he launched his post-convention campaign in Philadelphia, Miss), war (or expanded defense spending), greed, trickle down economics, union busting, decreased social spending, deregulation, anti-intellectualism and deficits... everything that continues to plague us today. Oh, and hate was good, too

So, Reagan was the real beginning of where it all went wrong but not only because of his policies. Equally important was Democratic acquiescence. The country started yawing right because many Dems in high places went along, too. They stopped fighting, they embraced the monied interests and the business is good/gov't is bad mentality, they formed the DLC...

Then, too, there's the media. Truth in images (the horrors the segregationists unleashed on peaceful protestors, the horrors of the southeast Asian war, etc) and journalists like Walter Cronkite were the norm. But now (and starting with Reagan's Morning in America), we have slick marketing with deceptive packaging and depiction of issues and candidates. And hate is good!

[Uben]

3. It went wrong with Citizens United

If the uber-wealthy were not allowed to pump hundreds of millions into elections, there would be a different outcome. Why do you think they bought the supreme court and congress? The monies they spend on elections come back to them ten fold via votes for tax breaks and government contracts. Eliminate the money in politics and you solve the problem. But, since the ones who vote on issues like this are the ones receiving the monies, we're fucked.