This is a proven strategy for tanking legislation.
Ten lawmakers on a linear political spectrum. Compromise is at 5. 1, 2, 9 and 10 said no; 3 and 8 grudgingly accepted. The measure looks poised to pass with six votes.
What can you do to tank it? Propose a sizzling 3½. 3 can't help but demand it at all costs. It's so juicy! And so close to the real intent behind 5! 8, meanwhile, horrified and betrayed, tells everyone to kindly fuck off. The centre holds. But the fringes have frayed enough to compromise passage.
We're in a rare state of inching bipartisanship. That mitigates the last decades' go-to strategy of lobbing landmines from the extremes, aiming to tear apart that delicate ground of negotiating space from the poles; to make moderation tantamount to treason. I suspect we'll now see more baiting of edges to chew away at the most-extreme moderates instead, an escalating game of No True Scotsman at the fringes.
Exactly. The impulse to make legislative government nimble and powerful is a strange one. Should it not be considerate and slow? "Who governs least, governs best", etc.
This is a proven strategy for tanking legislation.
Ten lawmakers on a linear political spectrum. Compromise is at 5. 1, 2, 9 and 10 said no; 3 and 8 grudgingly accepted. The measure looks poised to pass with six votes.
What can you do to tank it? Propose a sizzling 3½. 3 can't help but demand it at all costs. It's so juicy! And so close to the real intent behind 5! 8, meanwhile, horrified and betrayed, tells everyone to kindly fuck off. The centre holds. But the fringes have frayed enough to compromise passage.
We're in a rare state of inching bipartisanship. That mitigates the last decades' go-to strategy of lobbing landmines from the extremes, aiming to tear apart that delicate ground of negotiating space from the poles; to make moderation tantamount to treason. I suspect we'll now see more baiting of edges to chew away at the most-extreme moderates instead, an escalating game of No True Scotsman at the fringes.