Dr. Forbush Thinks

When the Republicans took over the US House of Representatives in 1994 they decided to shut out the Democrats at every possible level. This didn’t surprise anyone, because the Democrats had done the same over their reign as Kings of the House. As the Republicans maintained power they opted to strengthen their power in many different ways. Republicans claimed they had a mandate to do this because the voters chose to put them in power.

One of the ways that they did this were by gerrymandering congressional districts to give them a better chance of maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives. They did this recently in Texas where they claimed an off cycle redistricting in order to strengthen their hold on congress. Of course the Democrats had done similar things in the past, but many have argued that these “sure win” districts resulted in the polarization that we currently have in congress, because winning the Republican primary by going to the extreme right or winning the Democrat primary by going to the extreme left often left the winning with no competition in the general election - the district would vote one way or the other regardless of the extreme nature of the candidate.

Another way the Republicans increased their power was by dominating the lobbyists on K Street. The demanded that no Republican would be allowed to deal with a lobbyist that also dealt with a Democrat. This resulted in more perks flowing to the party in charge and less perks flowing to the minority party. Of course this backfired in the Abramoff scandal when very few Democrats had even met with Jack Abramoff compared to the huge number of Republicans that did.

But, the most notorious way that the Republicans controlled the Democrats was by killing any bill that the Republicans didn’t like in committee. Democrats didn’t have a voice in the House of Representatives in any practical way. Democrats could not even get their ideas into the public discourse if they didn’t match the predetermined Republican agenda. Only politically expedient bills could make it through committee, like the life threatening “flag burning” bill. Or the dangerous “gay marriage” bills. The only controversial bill that was introduced was the “immigration” legislation that was forced onto the public stage by the far right extremists who claimed to want to protect our country. And, the more moderate Republicans finely grew a spine and stood up to the xenophobic proposals.

So, I find it quite strange that the Republicans are sending up the political balloon about the Democrats wishing to silence the Republicans. Sure, we are going to get less “flag burning” and “gay bashing” bills introduced into the legislative debate. This is a good thing, because these bills were only meant to polarize the country even further than it has already become. Any action of the Democrats to move toward a less polarizing government could easily be viewed by extremists as an attempt to silence the minority. But, hopefully the Democrats will be able to define the debate and pull the country together. If they want this president to sign any of their bills into law they have no choice but to move to the center.

Finally, I just need to make one strong statement on this issue: Quit your whining Republicans and get on with the job of government!



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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


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