Why Is It Harder for Republicans to Pass Bills?
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (104093)
United States
November 17, 2022 10:03am CST
I like to be informative and help people to understand my politics, my leanings, and the legtimate reason behind them. Too often when the left accuses me of "being a republican," they tend to take that position in a pejorative way with their own condition in mind.
Toeing the party line.
In other words, the thought becomes, "anything republican is good and anything democrat is bad" in the eyes of a republican.
That is not how conservative minds work. That is not how the republican party works. In fact, in many ways, the fact that the republican side does not toe the party line causes us to lose elections a lot of the time. It makes it harder for republicans to win—for the same reason it makes it harder for us to pass bills.
Republicans and conservatives are individual thinkers as opposed to a collective of thought like the democrats. It may be a bit oversimplified. But essentially, republicans want to do things that work and democrats simply want to win.
Republicans do not agree most of the time on how things should go or what course should be taken. They bicker back and forth, sometimes bitterly, and it slows the process down.
Most of the time for the better, though. Because what gets accomplished usually works. I say usually, because republicans do not think all republican ideas are good and all democrat ideas are bad.
There is a major difference between getting things done (democrats), and getting things accomplished (republicans). It is one thing to simply pass a bill and wash your hands of what it creates as a result. It is entirely another to pass a bill that has been hashed and rehashed and rehashed again to achieve something of value.
If you put 10 republicans in a room and ask them all the same question, you will likely get 10 different answers and 10 variations of those answers. If you put 10 democrats in a room and ask them all the same question, you will get the same answer from all 10 with no variation.
That may be a bit of an exaggeration, I admit. But mostly it is true.
The underlying point is that the reason it is harder for republicans to pass bills is because a party line is rarely toed. Individual thought creates conflict which is harder to resolve and come to agreement on. Factors and consequences of decisions made become an intense negotiation toward finding a middle ground that comes closer to achieving a result that avoids pitfalls and mostly achieves what was intended.
I will point out that it was not always this way. In fact, there was a time when democrats and republicans could do what mostly republicans only do now. Many more bills in our past history were bipartisan than are now—not by a lot, mind you. But they happened more frequently.
What it comes down to, that I think is important to understand, as we wave goodbye to the midterms and start waving hello to 2024, is that what republicans want really is for America to succeed and for the American people to succeed. What the democrats want is for the democrat party to succeed. And I think we all should give that some deep and serious thought as we begin the process of making our decisions as to who and more importantly, what we vote for in this next presidential contest.
4 people like this
6 responses
@porwest (104093)
• United States
17 Nov 22
Of course I disagree. The policies of the democrats have failed time and time again over many decades. From their idea of raising taxes (which never raises tax roll revenues), to decades long failures in their social programs to combat poverty, to their over-regulation of businesses that cripple them and cost jobs, to their labor movement initiatives—tied together with heavy regulation and high corporate taxes—that led companies to seek cheaper labor overseas...
There is just simply a long list and a long history of policy that falls contrary to what any of their policies intend, and if you look closely at many of them, they are mostly all designed this way.
One has to remember where the democrat party comes from. Back in the old days they were the "slave party," opposing the republicans in their anti-slavery stance and even seceding from the Union and warring with us to maintain their slave states.
During the early days, before and during the Civil Rights Movement, democrats were members of the KKK, and wrote Jim Crowe laws that sent blacks to backs of busses, separate drinking fountains, denied voting rights, and banned blacks from eating in certain establishments. Democrats supported segregation in schools and fought hard to keep blacks out of classrooms with white students.
This is one piece of understanding where the party comes from and what their aims are and has always been, and then piecing together WHY they may want to maintain a certain level of "control" over their constituency.
If you can keep people poor you can continue to offer them something—just enough to keep them begging for more. On top of that if you can pit everyone against each other and have them fighting each other and hating each other, then they don't have time to look at who initiated the fight and see what they are up to.
So they have the Mexicans and the blacks and the gays and the transgenders all at each other's throats, all the while offering each of these groups "their back" to help them through their ills and troubles, again, in the interest of maintaining power and control.
I know this paints a very ugly picture. But if you really step back and think about it a little bit, it becomes a revelation that some get to finally on your side—but not enough.
There is an interesting other thing to factor in here. Very few people "become" democrats. But many people "become" republicans. It is a matter of finally coming to terms with things when they do not work, and finally understanding why they don't work, and who is at the root of them.
Sorry for such another long response, but these things must be said.
2 people like this
@NJChicaa (123910)
• United States
17 Nov 22
@porwest I "became" a Democrat. I'm sure I've told you this before but I voted GOP all the way up until Obama's 2nd election. I voted for Dole, Bush, McCain, and Romney. I have a framed autographed business card of Richard Nixon's. I have an elephant pillow that my aunt made for me to hold my collection of GOP campaign pins and jewelry. I even once considered getting a tattoo of a Republican elephant because. . . and I actually said this. . . that was the one thing about me that would never change. 
1 person likes this
@porwest (104093)
• United States
17 Nov 22
@NJChicaa Somewhere along the line you must have lost your way. Why would you suddenly advocate for hate, poverty and failed policy? Makes no sense.
You should have gotten the tattoo. AND kept your support of the GOP. The future does not look bright under democrat rule, and we are understanding the massive pain of this as we suffer through this hell under Biden.
1 person likes this
@divalounger (6182)
• United States
18 Nov 22
The gentleman protesteth too much, methinks.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (95471)
• Arvada, Colorado
18 Nov 22
They are a cult Jim, just like they say Maga is a cult.
1 person likes this
@porwest (104093)
• United States
18 Nov 22
For them, MAGA is just something to say that apparently replaces any defined argument as to what it means from their point of view. When they say MAGA and then add cult to the end of it, to them, it's 'nuff said and they don't have to explain further. They can't of course, which is why they use the term.
2 people like this
@dgobucks226 (36765)
•
19 Nov 22
Many excellent points as always that I agree with. Many Republicans spend more time worrying about their donors and re-election than passing bills that would help many Americans. Some are distracted by investigating corruption in the other party instead of focusing on issues Americans care about. There are too many Rhinos who need to be voted out of office for they are entrenched in the Washington establishment. They forget who they work for. For the life of me I cannot understand why can't Rep. stand together on voting for or against a bill while Dems vote in block? There are always a few senators like Murkowski, Romney, or Collins who will vote with the Dems. And when it comes to elections Reps get outworked and out maneuvered by crafty Democratics who rig voting laws on the state level. We are also at a disadvantage with the electoral map in General elections. How can you pass any bills if you're not a majority or a thin majority and have politicians in your party working against your Presidential representative (Trump).
Too much infighting among themselves and poor Congressional leadership like McConnell and McCarthy. How do you pull money out of Arizona in support of Blake Masters to give it to someone who won easily in their elections. A real headscratcher. Total incompetence! Trump brought people in the party usually not associated with voting Republican. Yet this clown McConnell gets voted back into leadership and has no plan to build on this base, in fact, I believe he does not want these voters!
No majority, no leadership, a mixed voter message, no cohesiveness as a party = losers and no bills to help Americans.
1 person likes this
@porwest (104093)
• United States
18 Nov 22
That is the one thing I think most thinking people should easily and readily pick up on. They (the liberals) point fingers at, accuse and insult the other side—but where is talk of what is actually happening? Where is the substance of their positions? Where is talk of why they think their ideas work? Where is their honest assessment or opinion of all the things affecting their lives? It is probably one of the strangest things to me.
Even if you find the occasional post or comment about inflation or supply shortages or labor shortages or whatever else is happening, it is spoken about generically. No one is putting together the pieces of the puzzle as to who or why we are experiencing these things. No one is figuring it out. And it is either that they don't know the answer and aren't interested in it, or they (those on the left) want this—because that's how socialism starts to become an idea that people start to believe in. It is how it takes its roots.
And funny as well how little real socialism never gets talked about or reported on by the news media. The suffering of people in places like Venezuela and Cuba and North Korea don't have their miserable stories told. So, even as the idea begins to solidify, at the same time no one truly understands the consequence of what they are latching onto as something we want.
I greatly fear the direction we are heading. It's not a good one. And frankly it is a place I never thought America could actually go. Not even sure what to think anymore. The midterms certainly showed to me a major disconnect from the seriousness and gravity of the situation this country is in.
1 person likes this
@porwest (104093)
• United States
19 Nov 22
@CarolDM The thing that scares me more than anything is the seeming intent behind the decisions being made on the left right now. It feels intentional. I don't think some people are seeing that, nor the danger that poses.
Burning up the gas prices is about the green agenda. And driving inflation and potentially a recession and unemployment is about universal basic income and increasing the poverty rate to gain more control from the bottom up.
The push is also to further demonize success and those who have achieved it.
1 person likes this
