>

We are taught to be "ruggedly independent" and stand up singlehandedly as a man... against giant corporations with armies of lawyers and lobbyists.
Once you see that this is the core of how the system is rigged, it's not so hard to understand the work of the Council for National Policy (whose members include Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo).
While the embedded link is an interesting read, the authors completely ignore the how of how our current political situation happened, completely ignoring gerrymandering, voter caging, voter intimidation, and all the other voter suppression techniques the Republican Party uses with great frequency and usually with great results (for them).  There are more citizens in the US that identify as Democrats or leaning democratic, but due to all the methods Republicans use to squash the will or desire of the voters, conservative voters have more input on elections than their numbers should allow.  Couple that with the fact that a large number of conservative voters are grossly uninformed (fact: people who only watch Fox News know less about political issues than those who don't watch any news at all), and conservative voters allow themselves to be manipulated via emotional tropes and other supposed "issues" that rarely impact their daily lives, and this leads to getting outrageous candidates like MTG, Bobert, Gatez, Gomert and the others of the idiotocracy elected.
For conservative voters, some of them enjoy the dysfunctional approach, not realizing that the candidates they elected would throw those very voters under the bus if they get the chance to cut Social Security, Medicare and other social structures that all Red states rely on, so they honestly believe that what is starting to happen is what is needed to happen.  Personally, I almost wish there was some sort of civics test that voters would be required to pass in order to be able to vote.  But that would also eliminate a lot of Republican candidates ... >

Yes we do, but we're stuck in a cycle where the only way to change the House or any of the system is to overwhelmingly win in the system itself with a huge Dem majority while the GOP has gamed the system via gerrymandering to keep themselves competitive in the House. So we're basically trapped with it as it is. >


So we're basically trapped with it as it is.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
I am convinced that change is going to have to happen at a genetic level before people will ever be able to sort themselves out on any sort of large scale.
Our species is innately greedy and technology has evolved faster than our brains....
"We could be sending people on rockets to other planets, but instead we overwhelmingly choose to send rockets into people on this planet." >

They’re not the representative body we need right now; but they are the representative body we deserve. So they’ll hunt us, and they’ll try to take away our rights, and destroy the credit of the US, because we can take it, because they’re not heroes, they’re a loud mouthed group of assholes, an unseeing group of reactionaries, the empty dark suits. >

No they do not.  The crazy people are elected just like everyone else.  Start from educating the people first. >

Hard to do when libraries, school boards, police stations, government facilities, Supreme Court, and Congress are infiltrated by fascists. Critical race theory is being removed every day from education. I hate to break it to you but the government in America wants to keep people stupid. >

Oh, and gerrymandering. If the GOP played a fair fight, they'd lose every single time. But they can't play fair and have to lie, cheat and steal their way into power. It's freaking embarrassing. >

Good for Alaska, but there's no way to extrapolate from Alaska to DC. Especially not when Alaska reelected Peltola and Murkowski, providing just a wee bit of evidence that Alaska is not MAGA. Putting that another way, Alaskans may be waiting for Trump to show up there before beginning to entertain enthralling themselves to the Tremendous Orange Vexatious Litigant. >

Id be perfectly happy with one that actually tries to do its job >

No fucking duh they do.....but a large portion of congress doesn't give a fucking rat's ass about representing Americans..... >

This raises an interesting set of questions. Who are we? What do we value? Where do we go from here? >

Uncap it. Develop a secure digital infrastructure so they don't have a room with limited space. Add 100 reps a decade until representation is more in line with the founders' vision, and move toward more equitable representation across the country. >

While the embedded link is an interesting read, the authors completely ignore the how of how our current political situation happened, completely ignoring gerrymandering, voter caging, voter intimidation, and all the other voter suppression techniques the Republican Party uses with great frequency and usually with great results (for them).  There are more citizens in the US that identify as Democrats or leaning democratic, but due to all the methods Republicans use to squash the will or desire of the voters, conservative voters have more input on elections than their numbers should allow.  Couple that with the fact that a large number of conservative voters are grossly uninformed (fact: people who only watch Fox News know less about political issues than those who don't watch any news at all), and conservative voters allow themselves to be manipulated via emotional tropes and other supposed "issues" that rarely impact their daily lives, and this leads to getting outrageous candidates like MTG, Bobert, Gatez, Gomert and the others of the idiotocracy elected.
For conservative voters, some of them enjoy the dysfunctional approach, not realizing that the candidates they elected would throw those very voters under the bus if they get the chance to cut Social Security, Medicare and other social structures that all Red states rely on, so they honestly believe that what is starting to happen is what is needed to happen.  Personally, I almost wish there was some sort of civics test that voters would be required to pass in order to be able to vote.  But that would also eliminate a lot of Republican candidates ... >


not realizing that the candidates they elected would throw those very voters under the bus if they get the chance to cut Social Security, Medicare and other social structures that all Red states rely on

Right-Wingers will always be to convince their drooling base any cuts are the Democrats' fault.  Immigrants, CRT, AOC, "woke-ism".  On & on.  This shit is PUMPED into their veins so hard via Fox et al.

but due to all the methods Republicans use to squash the will or desire of the voters

quash*