Politics: It is About Power

Somewhere Democrats lost the knowledge that politics is about power. 

LBJ knew politics was about power. Read Caro's biography and this becomes clear. Did the 60s idealists hate him so much they thought righteousness was enough to achieve their goals? Compare their accomplishments with Old Lyndon.

My great criticism of Barack Obama was he idealized reasonableness. He let slide shoring up political power by not emphasizing legislative races. I guess when one lacks sufficient power, then one must hope for reasonableness in one 's  opponents.

Maybe Harvard dies not teach Thomas Hobbes?

The Republicans know achieving political goals requires the possession of political power.

Proof of Republican commitment to possessing political power can be found in these HuffPost headlines: Supreme Court Will Hear Case On Radical Voting Rights Theory

If the court accepts these arguments, it would wipe out the last remaining protection available against extreme partisan gerrymandering and greatly increase the ability of state’s to adopt highly restrictive voting laws.

It could also play a role in any future attempt by presidential candidates to steal an election, as former President Donald Trump attempted in the 2020 election. Siding with the North Carolina Republicans could effectively give all electoral authority to state legislatures, including in the approval of the winner of the state’s Electoral College electors.

and Mitch McConnell Takes Bipartisan Bill Hostage To Block Democrats' Prescription Drug Bill 

It’s not clear what the chips bill has to do with the reconciliation bill; McConnell appears to be making a raw power move — something he’s known to do from time to time. Just a week ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal right to an abortion. The court wouldn’t have delivered the decision if McConnell had not engineered its 6-3 Republican majority by refusing to allow President Barack Obama to appoint a justice in an election year, then rushing to confirm a Donald Trump nominee shortly before the 2020 election.

 If the Democrats want to pass a legislative agenda, then they need more people in Congress and in the Senate. They need to attract voters by more than their righteousness. Martyrs rely on their righteousness. Martyrs look to the afterlife. Politics concerns itself with  this world.

Joe Biden seems to be learning this lesson: Biden calls for dropping filibuster rules to pass abortion rights into law.

sch 7/1/22