MGB:_The current tragedy of the commons is the Republican desire to win above all else, to control government for its own sake and to protect wealth and property rather than people. This is not really a new thing for conservatives, especially the southern variety, who took what was a system of indentured labor in exchage for transport and turned it into chattel slavery. It never really got better, it just changed labels. It is certainly not my Great Grandpa ”Dad” Allen’s Republican Party. Dad’s descendents are pretty much ashamed of what it has become. Unlike after 9/11, when the Democrats gave Bush a free hand, the GOP gave nothing to Obama in 2009 when the nation was again in crisis. This is a defect of character. Trump is but a more toxic symptom.
Of course, Democrats can be too cute for their own good, like when they did not act faster to change tax policy in 2009 because they wanted to embarrass the Republicans (they pulled victory from defeat only in 2013). The Immigration bill was a disaster if it had been passed, but they know it would not have been. Garland was also nominated to embarrass the GOP. No one in the Party really wanted him on the Court.
A Public Option would have decreased costs for normal patients and switching from unearned inocme payroll taxes on the rich to an expansion of the Hosplital Insurance Payroll Tax would have gotten both sides, except that enough Republicans would call that losing to ever get it enacted. While there may be no salvation in mortal men, it is still where you find a good political deal.
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