The concept of the “loyal opposition” arose from British parliamentary debates in the nineteenth century—that eventually institutionalized opposition through a minority party shadow cabinet—and does not have a concrete definition or legal meaning in the U.S.
I can't see anything getting done in a bipartisan manner. Democrats have been calling Trump and friends fascist for so long working together would be analogous to working with Idi Amin. One thing about vilifying the opposition, it makes working together tantamount to cannibalizing children.
Absolutely right: the House (under both D and R control) has made itself entirely irrelevant with continuing resolutions. The House has ONE JOB, and that is the budget. Yes, it can do other things, but that is what it was designed to do. Pelosi presided over the suicide of the House with two idiotic and irrelevant impeachment resolutions. Increasingly, the unwillingness of Obama to work with Republicans at all ("I've got a pen, and I've got a phone"), followed by the "resist" from Democrats in 2017 on, inevitably pushed presidents (particularly Trump now) toward government by executive order.
The way for Congress to regain its power is to a) become truly bipartisan and start working for the people, b) divest itself of corporate/lobbyist kickbacks and return to being "Mr. Smiths." and c) to begin to pass budgets again. THAT is the power of the House & Senate, and if they allow that to disappear, they are no better than the House of Lords.
The one thing you missed about the toxicity of the situation is the actions of the politicians in black robes. This is a tradition that goes back to Taney and Dred Scott, at least. Not only did the decision go well beyond the specifics of the case but there was ex parte communication between Taney and Buchanan. Those genius thought they had crafted a fix to the divisions over slavery that were sliding into violence. Instead, they jumped on the slippery slopes with both feet. Widespread nullification in the North convinced the South that the North and specifically the Republicans wouldn't respect the norms of the time so when Lincoln was elected, they seceeded. There have been other cases with legal reasoning that was as flawed but none with such awful consequences.
Fast forward to Earl Warren who Ike said was the worst mistake he ever made. Warren and his co-conspirators believed they were smarter than the rest of the country put together and legislated, because that it is what it was, on every topic imaginable. From that point forward it was obvious that the courts were political actors and confirmation fights got ever more toxic. Now we have the ridiculous John Roberts and his homies asserting that the court isn't political when everyone knows it is.
Actually, renowned conservative author and Washington Post columnist George F. Will has long made the serious and sensible argument on the virtues of gridlock. It is the protection, perhaps a final stop-gap protection, when one or both political parties have lost their way and are trying to foist something -- say, a repugnant progressive Left legislative orthodoxy in the form of DEI and wokeness-- on Americans which is at odds with our Founders' principles and the Constitution.
Sadly, this has resulted in something of an imperial presidency seizing ever-expanding executive order authority and thus undermining the vital role of the legislative.
Left unchecked, this poses the greater threat to our freedoms and self-government.
I agree, but the centralization of power in the executive branch has been increasing with each presidency for decades, and probably has more to do with the will to power than with the current Dem madness.
Let's be clear, this situation today is 90 percent GOP starting with Newt. Today's Trump / Musk iteration is fascism 101 with zero guardrails as all norms and ways of doing things in DC have been destroyed. The legal system has been hijacked by the GOP and SCOTUS has given Trump more power than GOD with absolute immunity.
That it was so easy to destroy in a few weeks is what is so horrific. Just two men with no norms or laws running roughshod over the entire Federal government... And No one seems to know how to stop them.
I disagree. Here's just a few of the more important things destroyed (or because of progressives, is/was heading to destruction) under Leftist Federal and State Control that Trump, is endeavoring to fix;
- meritocracy (are you tired of hearing this word yet, hopefully not, as it should have never been an issue, character and ability over immutable identity is a no brainer, antithetical to what we saw, on steroids, under Biden, IMO)
- national sovereignty (one doesn't have to point out the folly and tragedy of Biden's extremely loose border policy, increased sex slavery, fentanyl, crime, decreased municipal budgets, etc, I don't believe this can be argued)
- rule of law (are you going to contend that it hasn't been progressive DA's, funded often by Soros (American Presidential Award winner!) that gave us such things as <$900 in damages, your good; capture a criminal and they are here illegally you are not allowed to cooperate with ICE to have them deported; have a political opponent that threatens your power, charge him with crimes that are past the statute of limitations, elevated to felonies, where there are no victims; got a citizen entering peacefully into a public building, causing no harm, put them in jail for at least 3 years for trespassing while a fellow protester is shot dead in cold blood because the 145 lb. unarmed woman was apparently a mortal threat to the armed officer, etc)
- confusion of our most precious commodity, children (experiencing dysphoria (or just not very popular) and your brain is no where near maturity, no problem, let's offer procedures that may sentence you to a life of drug dependency, potentially loosing healthy parts and no longer able to procreate, and we'll even make others play along with your confusion, requiring adults to refer to you however you please, and we'll let you occupy the other sexes spaces too)
If the attacks continue to be Trump is Hitler, Trump is a fascist, Trump is racist, I just don't think that's going to cut it anymore. Personally, I hope leftists continue with this line of attack because I believe it will ensure more conservative victories. And Trump will make mistakes, and have issues, but at the very least, he sees the unjust leviathan that the Fed government has become (due to both sides) and is doing something about it. I hope I didn't sound too disrespectful, that's not my intention, without the respectful exchange of ideas, what hope does our Republic have, God bless.
I keep hearing from the Democrats about how much "chaos" is going on. I like most of what is happening and want to see both Trump and Musk succeed. "Chaos" is in the eye of the beholder.
I agree with much of what Mr. Halpin says in the article, but at this point we aren't just in a battle over values and policies. The Democrats decided years ago to embrace insanity and wage war on reality. Until they recover sufficiently to recognize what a woman or a man is, no sane dialogue with them is possible.
Congress used to have more bi partisan working together and compromise. Washington used to have more informal socializing and friendships between politicians of both parties. Times change, but I also blame the media. The media is much more polarized and since the Obama presidency the left and center left media calls everyone that disagrees with them racist and evil.
I can't see anything getting done in a bipartisan manner. Democrats have been calling Trump and friends fascist for so long working together would be analogous to working with Idi Amin. One thing about vilifying the opposition, it makes working together tantamount to cannibalizing children.
They are fascist
Absolutely right: the House (under both D and R control) has made itself entirely irrelevant with continuing resolutions. The House has ONE JOB, and that is the budget. Yes, it can do other things, but that is what it was designed to do. Pelosi presided over the suicide of the House with two idiotic and irrelevant impeachment resolutions. Increasingly, the unwillingness of Obama to work with Republicans at all ("I've got a pen, and I've got a phone"), followed by the "resist" from Democrats in 2017 on, inevitably pushed presidents (particularly Trump now) toward government by executive order.
The way for Congress to regain its power is to a) become truly bipartisan and start working for the people, b) divest itself of corporate/lobbyist kickbacks and return to being "Mr. Smiths." and c) to begin to pass budgets again. THAT is the power of the House & Senate, and if they allow that to disappear, they are no better than the House of Lords.
The one thing you missed about the toxicity of the situation is the actions of the politicians in black robes. This is a tradition that goes back to Taney and Dred Scott, at least. Not only did the decision go well beyond the specifics of the case but there was ex parte communication between Taney and Buchanan. Those genius thought they had crafted a fix to the divisions over slavery that were sliding into violence. Instead, they jumped on the slippery slopes with both feet. Widespread nullification in the North convinced the South that the North and specifically the Republicans wouldn't respect the norms of the time so when Lincoln was elected, they seceeded. There have been other cases with legal reasoning that was as flawed but none with such awful consequences.
Fast forward to Earl Warren who Ike said was the worst mistake he ever made. Warren and his co-conspirators believed they were smarter than the rest of the country put together and legislated, because that it is what it was, on every topic imaginable. From that point forward it was obvious that the courts were political actors and confirmation fights got ever more toxic. Now we have the ridiculous John Roberts and his homies asserting that the court isn't political when everyone knows it is.
Actually, renowned conservative author and Washington Post columnist George F. Will has long made the serious and sensible argument on the virtues of gridlock. It is the protection, perhaps a final stop-gap protection, when one or both political parties have lost their way and are trying to foist something -- say, a repugnant progressive Left legislative orthodoxy in the form of DEI and wokeness-- on Americans which is at odds with our Founders' principles and the Constitution.
Sadly, this has resulted in something of an imperial presidency seizing ever-expanding executive order authority and thus undermining the vital role of the legislative.
Left unchecked, this poses the greater threat to our freedoms and self-government.
I agree, but the centralization of power in the executive branch has been increasing with each presidency for decades, and probably has more to do with the will to power than with the current Dem madness.
Woke!
Let's be clear, this situation today is 90 percent GOP starting with Newt. Today's Trump / Musk iteration is fascism 101 with zero guardrails as all norms and ways of doing things in DC have been destroyed. The legal system has been hijacked by the GOP and SCOTUS has given Trump more power than GOD with absolute immunity.
That it was so easy to destroy in a few weeks is what is so horrific. Just two men with no norms or laws running roughshod over the entire Federal government... And No one seems to know how to stop them.
Whenever someone starts with "Let's be clear", one can be certain that whatever follows is not.
Bwhahah so smart!
As compared to your initial post, your subsequent comment is accurate. Thank you.
I disagree. Here's just a few of the more important things destroyed (or because of progressives, is/was heading to destruction) under Leftist Federal and State Control that Trump, is endeavoring to fix;
- meritocracy (are you tired of hearing this word yet, hopefully not, as it should have never been an issue, character and ability over immutable identity is a no brainer, antithetical to what we saw, on steroids, under Biden, IMO)
- national sovereignty (one doesn't have to point out the folly and tragedy of Biden's extremely loose border policy, increased sex slavery, fentanyl, crime, decreased municipal budgets, etc, I don't believe this can be argued)
- rule of law (are you going to contend that it hasn't been progressive DA's, funded often by Soros (American Presidential Award winner!) that gave us such things as <$900 in damages, your good; capture a criminal and they are here illegally you are not allowed to cooperate with ICE to have them deported; have a political opponent that threatens your power, charge him with crimes that are past the statute of limitations, elevated to felonies, where there are no victims; got a citizen entering peacefully into a public building, causing no harm, put them in jail for at least 3 years for trespassing while a fellow protester is shot dead in cold blood because the 145 lb. unarmed woman was apparently a mortal threat to the armed officer, etc)
- confusion of our most precious commodity, children (experiencing dysphoria (or just not very popular) and your brain is no where near maturity, no problem, let's offer procedures that may sentence you to a life of drug dependency, potentially loosing healthy parts and no longer able to procreate, and we'll even make others play along with your confusion, requiring adults to refer to you however you please, and we'll let you occupy the other sexes spaces too)
If the attacks continue to be Trump is Hitler, Trump is a fascist, Trump is racist, I just don't think that's going to cut it anymore. Personally, I hope leftists continue with this line of attack because I believe it will ensure more conservative victories. And Trump will make mistakes, and have issues, but at the very least, he sees the unjust leviathan that the Fed government has become (due to both sides) and is doing something about it. I hope I didn't sound too disrespectful, that's not my intention, without the respectful exchange of ideas, what hope does our Republic have, God bless.
"all norms and ways of doing things in DC have been destroyed"
Not quite, but Trump is off to a good start. My personal favorite was gutting the international extortion ring formerly known as USAID.
OK then
I keep hearing from the Democrats about how much "chaos" is going on. I like most of what is happening and want to see both Trump and Musk succeed. "Chaos" is in the eye of the beholder.
I agree with much of what Mr. Halpin says in the article, but at this point we aren't just in a battle over values and policies. The Democrats decided years ago to embrace insanity and wage war on reality. Until they recover sufficiently to recognize what a woman or a man is, no sane dialogue with them is possible.
Congress used to have more bi partisan working together and compromise. Washington used to have more informal socializing and friendships between politicians of both parties. Times change, but I also blame the media. The media is much more polarized and since the Obama presidency the left and center left media calls everyone that disagrees with them racist and evil.