How to Inflate a Cat in 2 Easy Steps!
The Czar had this unsigned message hurled into the head of a Tcho-Tcho, as a brick carefully tied to a piece of paper. More curiously, the note was scrawled onto the brick; the paper was blank. Perhaps an atavistic envelope?
| We are hearing from McConnell and Co. that they aren’t willing to defund Planned Parenthood because they don’t have the votes to overcome a Presidential veto. This reminds me of a situation of my West Texas Church back in 80’s At that point in time, every church in the windy plains of West Texas had to have a gym building. There were people in my church who wanted one. There was controversy and dissension and when it finally came to a vote, the pro-gym people won with 51% of the vote. What do you think happened? The 51% came forth and said they couldn’t allow their church to be torn apart because of a 2% plurality. I think that is a great American instinct. We don’t make decisions with just a bare majority. Counting noses is one thing, but in the end, we value a real consensus more than a narrow victory. I think this another great tradition that the Democrats have managed to kill off. The era when we can hold off on legislation until a clear and commanding consensus can be reached is gone. If Republicans can’t get used to making moves based on a bare majority, they are turning the field over the people who are willing take advantage the mathematics of a 2% plurality. They say that wars are lost because of generals who insist on using tactics that won them the last war. I think the grassroots have every reason in the world to be disappointed and angry with a leadership that is too dense to realize that rules have changed. Who doesn’t love the idea of a massive win? But if the R’s insist on that, there will be lots of little losses, and very few big wins. Our country just can’t afford that at this point. And there is no guarantee that the Democrats will end up winning except in the imaginations of our own leadership. |
This is a very interesting tale, and should be cautionary. As you suspected, the Czar agrees that this anecdote is illustrative of our diminished collective state of political sensibility.
It’s easier than it should be to attribute things you like to your political preference, and assign the “other side” to the, well, other side. But it indeed the case that the Czar has seen this exact confusion play out over many decades.
Conservatives in this country tend to understand that the United States is a republic. You elect others to vote on your behalf. If you don’t like how they voted, it’s a matter of replacing them with someone who is more inclined to represent you. As a congressperson once told the Czar, representing everyone is an impossible job—you try to represent as many people as you can. In other words, 2% is not enough clearance. Maybe we should talk further.
Liberals, as much as they tolerate democracy in lieu of totalitarianism, persist in the illusion that the United States is a democracy, and that everything is a referendum. Gore should be president because he won the popular vote. Obamacare is the law because it won by a single vote. Abortion is legal because less than 51% of the country is against it. In other words, if your side wins 50.0001% of the vote, it’s effectively a landslide and the losers need to drop dead.
The conservatives in our country are learning these lessons all to well as we re-ascend into the mainstream culture: the Czar has seen terrible disagreements between members of the Right, and he knows all too well that the 2% plurality could tear us apart, also. Your story is good—let us remain on guard and seek to build consensus, and not just subordination.
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.