"There's nothing you can know that isn't known
(Love) Nothing you can see that isn't shown. . .
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "All you need is love," 1967
John Lennon's words described the Overton Window 20 years before political scientist Joseph Overton introduced it as a concept of the evolution of political ideas. You cannot know an idea until it is known. An idea has to be thinkable before it can be considered.
People familiar with political science commentary know the chart:
Political concepts, and indeed brands, art and music genres, and all ideas generally ,float somewhere in this universe of unthinkable, acceptability, and popularity. Yesterday I floated an idea: Oregon should respond to Trump's demand that red states do extreme congressional district remapping to make their state delegations as Republican as possible.
I wrote yesterday that the current Oregon map is partisan, but fair-minded, with one red district and two swing districts. It fails the Trump test for red states. It is nowhere near as partisan as possible. A map with six Democratic representatives is easily possible. Oregon Democrats would be doing exactly what Republicans are doing right now. Do Democrats dare take action?
Democrats find Trump so corrupt and dangerous that it blinds them to what a change-agent revolutionary he is. He is like the girl in the story who shouts "But the Emperor has no clothes!" That would be the positive way to describe Trump. Trump-the-truth-teller. Trump the guy who shakes America out of group-think as the country slides into middle-class distress as our manufacturing jobs move offshore. Trump who noticed that the working class was angry. Trump who noticed that immigration was out of control and Americans didn't like it.
And the dark side: We have a Trump who recognized that Americans and their institutions are about as prejudiced on race and religion as liberal critics say they are, and Trump finally gave Americans permission to voice that prejudice publicly. And a Trump who recognized that many men have the barely-concealed predatory and misogynist views of women that feminists claim they do, and that men were looking for some politician who would acknowledge and praise them. Trump said it aloud: he can grab women by the genitals without asking, and they let him do it, and then they elect him president having heard it. Is this a great country, or what?
Trump moved the Overton Window of acceptable self-serving partisan warfare. Democrats watch it but have a hard time quite believing it. They remain shocked at the bold disregard for democratic fair play. There is still a remnant of "If they go low, we go high." Democrats accepted small hypocrisies, which muddles their criticism of Trump. President Biden tolerated his son, Hunter, doing nepotistic grifting, getting $50,000 a month from Burisma, and then President Biden pardoned him. Some Democratic and Republican legislators trade stocks, apparently on inside knowledge. It is small potatoes compared to Trump's family grift-- thousands, not billions -- but Democrats are a flawed critic. Democrats are hypocrites. Trump and MAGA don't bother with hypocrisy.
My suggestion that Democrats do exactly what red states do with mid-cycle redistricting breaks new ground. It is no longer "unthinkable." It is now "radical." If a Democratic state senator were to propose it, it would move up to "acceptable." I would not expect Governor Tina Kotek to discuss it as an idea worth exploring until some elected state officials promoted it as something they support. That support puts it onto the public stage as a proposal, not just a supposition. If one of the five Democratic U.S. Representatives in Oregon voiced support, the idea would move immediately to that boundary between "acceptable" and "sensible."
Oregon Republicans candidates will oppose the proposal. This is a bad issue for them because they would be condemning Democrats for doing what they are doing proudly and aggressively. It is especially bad for incumbent 2nd District Rep. Cliff Bentz because he has done nothing whatever to protest his party doing it elsewhere, and he is the beneficiary, with an improbable district that combines LaGrande and Grants Pass, an eight-hour drive apart. He sits pretty in flagrant hypocrisy.
It is a good issue for Governor Kotek. She would be standing up to Trump, and she needs issues like that.
It is a good issue for the six Democratic candidates for Congress in the 2nd District. They would be arguing that Bentz is a silent puppet of Trump, out of touch with the interests of his district because he has a district that allows him (he thinks) to ignore Democrats. Remember: Congress has an approval rating of about 15 percent. He and the GOP caucus oppose national rules to prohibit partisan gerrymandering.
But nothing moves until Democrats speak up. Silence keeps the idea unthinkable. I don't think redistricting is unthinkable. I think it is a necessary adjustment in a world being remade by Trump.
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9 comments:
Fuck you, Sage, you cocksucker.
I posted this comment, written by a well-known Medford Republican, to provide some insight into the attitude of Republicans to the idea that Democrats would respond in kind to what Republicans are doing in red states. When the action is reversed, they see how unfair, manipulative, and undemocratic it is. That isn't apparent in the abstract. It is apparent only when the action is reversed onto them.
I would normally delete and suppress comments like this but this one is useful for readers.
That first comment is a good argument for restricting anonymity on the Internet.
"When they go low, we go high," isn't about redistricting and the like. It's about your political adversaries picturing you and your spouse as chimpanzees; or calling you a man when you are the mother of two children; or claiming that you weren't born in the U.S.A. when you were; or sneering when saying "Hussein," which is a perfectly good middle name in the African American community. Yes, Mr. Sage, you are correct that President Trump makes it okay to be a white supremacist, anti-semitic, and sexist, all at the same time; it's all about not having to be "politically correct."
It's unfortunate that a part of society can't have a civil conversation.
As for redistricting, it's too bad that political party affiliation is so important, as neither party has ownership of the better ideas and leadership necessary to run the country.
With businesses, there's a P&L that determines success.
Within the US today, we have some states seemingly doing very well. And still others not so.
Perhaps we need to have a different metric to select political leaders, as party affiliation is no indication of success.
This will be an interesting election year.
The obscenities from “anonymous,” like the social media posts Trump toots during the night, embody the spirit of MAGA – anger and hate. I can imagine masked MAGA goons uttering something similar as they murdered Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Hopefully after the midterms, they’ll start slithering back under their rocks.
Fight fire with fire is the relevant saying. It’s not only desirable, it’s necessary.
Fight Trump with Trump? Makes sense……I suppose.
Sigh. Fight Republican redistricting with Democratic redistricting...and it does make sense.
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