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Democracy and Free-Market Capitalism? Probably Not Eternal
We can change the systems, or let them change for us.
Rules are important. When you follow a common set of rules, you ensure a certain level of fairness to all those involved.
This is why institutions are important in a democracy. We vote, and we expect the people we believe in the most to win the vote and bring us necessary changes. But when the other side wins, we expect them to follow the rules, and not change too many things.
The problem, as history shows, is that nothing is really eternal. Structures, rules and systems change, whether we want them to or not. And if the good guys follow rules, it doesn’t mean the bad guys will, too.
A Necessary Reality Check
The Democratic Party in the US is currently in a tough spot. It’s a party that wants to follow rules to a T, basically just to not piss off Republicans so that they don’t break the rules in the future.
Democrats are still not on board with changing the filibuster rule in the Senate, or changing the composition of the Supreme Court.
They want to follow the rules, believing the Republicans will do the same. This, unfortunately, is exasperatingly naive, because the party faces an opposition that’s not interested in playing the same game.
If the January 6th insurrection and Donald Trump’s several attempts to overthrow elections in key states weren’t enough, the GOP has for the past year been firmly on the path of making it harder and harder for people to vote. Roe vs. Wade is being overturned in the Supreme Court thanks to two hard-line conservative judges who shouldn’t have a seat there in the first place. And Mitch McConnell and his lackeys have no intention of voting for any Democratic bill, whether it would help his constituents or not.
But the filibuster still stands, because many establishment Democrats are too tied to memories of how things were done in the good old days. They, starting with President Biden himself, believe it’s still possible to return to the good old days of civility.
There’s no way this game is going to end well, if one of the players isn’t interested in playing by…
