True, but D.C. seems to ruin any moderates. Look at reasonable middle crowd
like Warner and Kaine for VA (just as examples, plenty of GOPers apply too) and you see they still end up voting along party lines 90+% of the time. Look at the tax bill, not one single Dem in either House or Sen voted for it. Really, not one single moderate Dem could get behind a bill they knew was going to pass anyway? IIRC George Allen talked about it too, as have others, about how D.C. seems to suck the will and ability out of you. Don't vote the party line? There go the committee assignments and seniority bumps you want and the influence you need to get the things you want done. Add to that the ridiculous gerrymandering, and now if you don't, your bigger fear is being primaried for not being extreme enough.
Maybe I wasn't paying attention enough before, but that phenomenon seemed to start, or at least get seriously ramped up, around the time of Newt. Can't really fault the Dems for following suit in that regard either. But the end result is still a chitty process that gets us nowhere reasonable.
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In response to this post by Hoo23)
Posted: 03/14/2018 at 12:29PM