Friday began with House conservatives holding a press conference to trash the $1.2 trillion spending bill their leaders negotiated with Democrats, sparking some fears about its prospects.
It squeaked through — requiring 67% of the House, it ended up winning 68% — but a majority of Republicans voted against it.
It was just the first headache of the day for House Republicans as they adjourned for a two-week recess, offering a distillation of the infighting and disenchantment that continues to plague the party 15 months into its narrow majority. Things were about to get worse.
Moments later, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shocked her colleagues by filing a motion to overthrow Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., blasting his stewardship of the chamber and threatening renewed turmoil at the helm of her party.
Unfortunately, picking and choosing who gets to participate in democracy isn’t democracy. We’re stuck with morons among us.
That’s not necessarily true- direct democracy isn’t the same a representative democracy, for example. Also, a very strong case can be made that the US functionally isn’t a democracy, since one political party wields outsized amounts of power compared to “the will of the people.” A “true” democracy wouldn’t allow a President who lost the popular vote, or require a party to get 60%+ of the popular vote to get barely 50% members in Congress.
And yes, I realize the idea that requiring voters to be informed on issues and government opens the door to suppression of voters for illegitimate reasons. I don’t know what would be a more ideal solution, but I do know that this
is a big chunk of the problem. A functioning government requires an invested and educated populace, and too many Americans aren’t.