Steve Benen joins the discussion on the creeping Californification of America as the minority in Congress seeks to do
nothing other than obstruct.
A congressional minority would, in theory, have three possible motivations for cooperating with the majority in tackling policy problems. The first would be a modicum of patriotism -- the country has problems that need fixing, and patriots who care about the nation's future would feel the urge to do the right thing. That doesn't apply to the modern GOP -- it's not that they hate the United States, it's that they believe some problems are imaginary (global warming) and other problems can be addressed just as soon they're done destroying Democrats.
The second is fear. If the minority believes the public will be outraged by blind obstructionism and a deliberate effort to make national conditions worse, the minority would fear electoral punishment and, as such, be more responsible. That that doesn't apply to the modern GOP, either -- Republicans assume (probably correctly) that most voters aren't paying enough attention to current events to notice their tactics. And if recent prognostications are accurate, the GOP will be rewarded in the midterms for their misconduct, creating an even stronger incentive to reject and block problem-solving.
The third is the desire to produce better policy results. As Bruce Bartlett, among others, has written of late, if Republicans were less reckless, they could work with Democrats and move policy proposals to the right, which presumably would be a party goal. But the modern GOP prefers to take its chances, and hope that its obstructionist tactics are enough to stop progressive legislation from passing anyway.
Of course, the problem isn't limited to motivations. As Ezra put it, "What happens when one of the two major parties does not see a political upside in solving problems and has the power to keep those problems from being solved?"
We now have a political system in which a majority of the House, a majority of the Senate, a majority of the electorate, and the president can all agree on a specific policy proposal, but it still can't become law due to obstructionist tactics from the minority. Ours is the only major democracy on the planet that gives the minority the tools to stop the majority from governing.
He concludes:
In other words, in our 21st-century political system, Republicans, after having failed and been discredited, can still block the majority's agenda, still have an incentive to undermine American public policy, and still complain if Democrats don't do enough to satisfy their misguided demands.
