To: Bridge Player who wrote (115234 ) 5/21/2005 4:47:08 PM From: carranza2 Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 793955 What do you think holds the Democratic coalition of racial and ethnic minorities, environmentalists, gay rights activists, labor unions, academic intelligentsia, and the NEA together? My guess: a belief in the morality and rightness of redistributionism. Oh, and of course, a hatred of the Republican party and its members. Probably true. However, I think there's are probably wider divides between the most moderate GOP members and its most radical than there are between the most left-leaning Dems and the most moderate. In other words our--the GOP's--tent is bigger, which probably accounts for some of our success in the polls in the last few elections. The Dems are no longer the party of the people. I cited the blog entry not because I agreed with its political analysis, i.e., the "they [the GOP] hates us" rant part of it--but because its statistical analysis of the judiciary was spot on. The liberal judiciary is a myth that doesn't survive even the most cursory analysis. The current fight in the Senate is IMO nothing more than pay back for what the Senate did to Clinton's appointees and, perhaps, even for his impeachment. It also proves, at least in my mind, vbg, that the current poisonous atmosphere is related to what took place during the Clinton era for which both parties are to blame. I think Gingrich and Hillary know this and are ashamed by it. Perhaps it is the reason we saw them together recently. I don't know where this poisonous atmosphere is going to lead. I do know that the GOP's threat to do away with filibusters is very wrong-headed. We may have to live someday as a minority party--would we want, say, socialized medicine, higher taxes, or some other deeply offensive policy shoved down our throats? I daresay not. Getting rid of the filibuster invokes The Law of Unintended Consequences in a huge way, including some that could be extremely bad for us.