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This is probably a level of maturity of challenging how we got here today that is unwise. Because we did get here somehow. And it's not because of their story. But it's not the cleanest story that makes you feel the best, either. It's full of intractable hells and adaptation.

Yeah, we’ve been in a low grade “competitive authoritarianism” for decades because the laws haven’t mattered. Presidents telegraph their “enforcement priorities” and laws disappear. Or direct their departments to make new regs and there’s a law! Then the rich get to opt out in court. Good system!

Reading this made me realize how insanely Congress deferred their power. It really could have been something. Executive agencies lobbying Congress to codify laws/rules and Congress holding agencies accountable for stepping out of their lane.

Yeah. This is in part because we are two very different countries in a trench coat, with too many veto points

I was thinking that it started during the Nixon administration.

The Roberts Court is a major part of the reason the legislature failed, from Citizens United to bribery to Voting Rights. It was their strategy to shift power to themselves and their patrons. They mocked us by striking down old laws and executive actions and saying the Congress they broke could act

A huge lacking in duty from the legislature and the voters.

90% of media is owned by right wing billionaires at this point.

The are abdicating all of their power every day

You could make an argument that the root cause for the legislature abandoning its job is in equal parts gerrymandering and propaganda (which has its roots in consolidation in corporate media)

i feel like the house+senate failing to pass a budget should trigger a snap election of all the members of both chambers. maybe that fixes things?

Also creating an “Office of the Bursar” via amendment that only reports to the senate. And all funds that go to the executive branch have to be signed off by that office.

It was supposed to be the strongest branch, in a world of untrustworthy branches. House gets power of the purse. You cannot plan on assuming obsequiousness, on abrogation

We settled on an interpretative regime because it’s impossible for a legislative body to consider all the details of every iteration of every possible downstream effect of the implementation of its intent. Legal precedent and the regulatory development process are outgrowths of that impossibility.

Did @gregdoucette.bsky.social ghost write this

Good summary, the system wasn’t designed to withstand one branch just giving up. IMO gerrymandering is the critical element in the legislature breaking. No deals at home, no deals in DC. Fixing the legislature will require re-establishing logical voting district boundaries.