Louis wrote:1) Its not just Republicans that will use congressional procedure to bog things down.
True, but Democrats generally pick their battles with the filibuster, not block every single bill. We've never seen filibusters in these record numbers. Nor has Democrats blocked basic bills that generally everybody votes for. Making the filibuster a simple blocking vote, instead of actually using that time to talk and talk and talk (like you had to in the past), was a huge mistake, and I hope the Senate corrects that.
Louis wrote:2) Right now, Democrats have control of the House and Senate, which means they set the agenda. They have probably been using this to their advantage for quite sometime and the Republicans are using other procedural tactics to get what they want. One side having clear control means they can set what bills come up for discussion and have a clear majority when votes come up (even votes to adjourn for the day).
Democrats and Republicans in Congress just act differently. You can't really say that one party is just like the other party, except with different ideals. They have different backgrounds, and how they respond in Congress is different.
Democrats are generally willing to work with Republicans, no matter how battered they have been with them in the past. After all, those "tree-hugging hippies" are all about co-operation, etc. They just want to get good laws passed. Republicans typically don't care about compromise, unless they have to. Most are better tied to the business sector and wall street, and live by the ideals of "survival of the fittest". They view the Democrats as their opponent, and the goal of Congress is to win.
Hell, Obama has been suffering from that problem since the beginning. He's been overwilling to try to compromise and work with Republicans. The guy is closer to a centralist than the whole "socialist liberal pinko" that Fox News tries to paint him as.
Democrats are also generally more fragmented among their own party, because they come from a bunch of different ideals. This makes it harder to get universal votes like the Republicans can. Republicans' ideals are pretty basic: cut taxes, less government, gun rights, and religion. There is some differences in ideals, some aren't religious and some are further into that "less government" thing (read: Libertarians). But, for the most part, they have no problem voting as a group to defeat their opponent.
So, a Democratic Party in majority or minority is going to be radically different than the Republican version. In a way, it's the weakness of the Democratic party. They are always accused of having no backbone because they are too willing to try to work with their other half of Congress, and sometimes that means that they can't just use the same tricks to get things done.
Louis wrote:3) This is how the American congress works. Its procedure that has been in place for two hundred years and I doubt it will ever change.
It changes all the time, especially the Senate. Hell, it's the Senate that is the problem right now. The House has no problem passing laws, because it's a simple majority. No arcane Senate rules to block their vote or screw up the law. Frankly, I don't understand the Senate. Just make it a majority vote, and maybe throw in the old school filibuster, you know, the one you have to work for. None of this "I'm going to vote to filibuster, but I can leave any time I want" bullshit.
That's not to say that the cycle won't continue. Democrats will hold Congress and the presidency for a time, and Republicans will do the same after a while. But, again, both parties in the majority/minority are just different.
Louis wrote:4) If you are as outnumbered and backed into a corner as congressional Republicans are right now, you are going to do whatever you can to balance the power.
True, but I don't think this strategy will work. Voting down laws like some of the ones that have come up on the floor just makes them like rape-loving, child-labor-supporting, 911-responder-hating politicians.
