How come when the GOP is in the minority they can bring Washington

[WCGreen]

to a hault...

But when Dem's are in the minority, they can't block a door...

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. A question I constantly ask myself

And why when Dems are the majority they cannot effectively control floor votes like the Repubs?

[SeattleGirl]

2. Because.....

they hate better than we do.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Two Big Reasons

One was the way the Senate is currently organized. Since it was 50-50, Liberman struck a deal with Reid that allowed him to become Majority Leader but allowed for a 60 vote threshold on almost every vote. Reid became leader, not Pruneface McConnell, but it was difficult to get the 60 votes. A bigger Democratic majority after November wipes away this rule and the need for TraitorJoementum...many votes can move ahead at 51. Getting 60 Democrats elected would even be nicer.

The other is the 800 pound Executive that vetoed almost everything that did pass 60 votes, thus requiring 67 to pass. So this Senate was doomed to naming post offices and doing little else from the outset.

[magellan]

4. It has to do with string theory

Who's pulling them, and why.

I'm afraid there's no good answer to your good question.

[riverdeep]

5. Because they are better at the little Machiavellian things.

They have ground level strategies in place to make all their schemes work. They have a network of business interests and lobbyists to back them up. They have propaganda arms in all the media to provide cover, or as Rush Limpdick says, 'carry water'. And they are also not afraid to be bold, to take risky and outrageous maneuvers. Finally, and maybe most importantly, they are far more unified and willing to subjugate their own objections to get bills passed, to filibuster, etc.

The Dems are far more worried about not being liked and made fun of, are generally more timid, they constantly get out-strategized and out-hustled, business interests see them as a second choice to the Republicans, and they don't have a slavish presence in the media. There are many DINO's in our midst that make unification difficult to impossible in anything other than centrist goals.

The Republicans did the same thing when the executive branch was a Dem, Clinton, so the idea that the Congress is completely beholden to the executive branch is not true.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Math.

The Dems have a clear majority in the House.

However, both houses of Congress must pass a bill. The Dems do not do not DO NOT have a majority in the Senate.

The GOP do not represent their constituents; GOP Congress critters do what they're told by their Party (the think tanks, unelected "advisors", Rove, etc).

With all things being equal, the GOP will always get 100% for or against whatever is up for a vote.

And, when you consider what DUer "KharmaTrain" said in post #3, the Dems will never get 60 (or 67) votes.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Easy. It's motivation.

The republicans are not committed to consensus-building and compromise as a minority party. They refuse to work WITH democrats. Fact of the matter is democrats are seen are the enemy to be challenged and defeated. This is the heart of the matter of why the government has stopped being a House for the People. It can't happen. Even if there were a few "renogade" republicans who wanted to work with democrats, the leadership would remove them.

[tannybogus]

8. The first thing you need to learn in Congess are the rules of the road!

Congress has their own arcane version of "Roberts Rules of Order."
If you are elected, that is what you want to master and ASAP.
With those rules, you can tie knots around the process if you so choose.
As noted, you may have to have balls to use some of them, but they are
worth knowing. :yoiks:

[SoCalDem]

9. Republicans are bomb-throwers, and they don't care who gets hurt

They have their network of media support well-entrenched, and they know their back is covered.. The faithful listeners/watchers will fall in line behind them, because Rush et all tell them they should..


Dems have no such support-system, and soon turn on each other..

[WCGreen]

12. That is part of my theory.

The GOP has a better off the ranch support system so that if someone get's beat, a cushy job i the private sector awaits.

Also, Democrats tend to look at public service as a vocation while republicans tend to view politics and public service as a advocation.

[Recursion]

10. Mindset

The GOP spent decades as the minority party and the Dems as the majority. The GOP got good at the kind of discipline that works for a minority party. Neither got good at the kind of discipline good for the other situation, which is why neither did a really good job when the roles were switched. Now that we're back in the natural state of things, you're seeing the Senate functioning as it did during most of my life and, more or less, as it was intended to: as a chamber whose purpose is to stop legislation from happening.

Before we say "let's get rid of the Senate" let's ponder the fact that it might be a good idea to have a chamber whose purpose is to do that.

[sharesunited]

14. Cooling saucer, as Byrd would say.

[cobalt1999]

11. The GOP votes as a group without individual thought

Democrats tend to be more independent and less likely to follow the masses.

Shoot, look around this place. Is there any consensus among us on any topic? Compare that with Republican sites where group think is on display.

[iowasocialist]

13. What do we Dems stand for?

Because the GOP is far more unified ideologically than is the DP.

What does the Dem party stand for?
With all the conservative Dems we have, what does it mean to be a Democrat?

[sharesunited]

15. I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat.

[NorthCarolina]

16. Simple (1) DLC, and (2) Blue Dogs

eom

[baldguy]

17. The GOP is a totalitarian organization.

Stalin never got less than full support either.