[EL] Heated email exchanges and the continuum with the divide between the major parties

[Rob Richie]

I've participated in my share of heated email exchanges here and know the
temptation of the  zippy email response, but I assume the temperature in
recent listtserv exchanges will be lowered after a few hours away from the
fray.

Still, the very fact that this listserv -- one that brings together
partisans from across the spectrum in generally civil exchanges in a way  I
find unique -- is on the edge of breaking down on that basic level of
civility is an indicator that we have a bigger problem on our hands than
the words of Donald Trump in the debate last night (however they may be
explained.) To me, the root cause is the combination of our current
electoral rules and the fact that the base of each major party greatly
fears the other major party -- and will reward efforts to obstruct the
other party. In that climate, partisan fever only seems to keep getting
hotter.

Put it another way. If a more establishment-preferred candidate like Marco
Rubio were the GOP presidential nominee and not saying what Trump said last
night, would it be any more likely that a Republican-led Senate next year
would confirm a President Clinton's nominee for the 9th Supreme Court seat?
Would it make it any more likely that a Speaker Paul Ryan would sit down
with a President Clinton to try to improve Obamacare?

Consider when Sen Rubio had his deer-in-the-headlights moment in this
year's GOP debate before the New Hampshire primary. As Chris Christie
pointed out, the Rubio lines on Barack Obama that he repeated nearly
verbatim three times were almost certainly poll-tested -- and used because
they worked with primary voters. Here a direct transcript
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/06/transcript-of-the-feb-6-gop-debate-annotated/>f
the third time he said them

"We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a
president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing.
That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president
that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to
America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this
country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as
a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake.This election is not about
the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st
century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a
Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first
Americans to inherit a diminishes country."

I don't mean to blame this on Republicans or pick on Sen. Rubio, as you can
find examples from across the spectrum of overheated rhetoric about the
dangers of the other side. While hinting of not conceding an otherwise
clear electoral defeat does suggest taking things to a new level. I believe
it's of a continuum with what we've been seeing from our leaders for years
-- and  what I anticipate will be the case next year when Congress and the
President try to get to the business of running the country in a
constitutional structure that demands cooperation.

Our underlying problem isn't going away quickly and isn't tied to any one
personality. That's not to excuse  what Donald Trump is saying, but it does
suggest. we have work to do long after the settling of the dust from this
election.

- Rob

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Rob Richie
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