Say What?

(Cartoon by Lee Judge/Kansas City Star(1/1714) and featured at Mc Clatchy DC.)

Duncan Black raised an interesting point on Eschaton yesterday.

The "serious moderate conservative" strategy forever has been to try to sucker totebagger liberals into believing that the serious moderate conservative will support serious moderate conservative solutions that will address liberal concerns, like the fact that people have no damn jobs and no damn money. The serious moderate conservative solutions don't actually solve any problems and, more than that, the serious moderate conservative won't actually support those solutions when liberals come around to embracing them.

I think he's nailed a major reason why the current crop of Dems in Congress have been so ineffective for at least the past twenty years.  But the primary reason, of course, is that financial backers of most "liberals" are also bankrolling the Republicans in Congress.  A wise person once said "Follow the money."  One good tool to see who gives what is Open Secrets.org.

But there's more to it than campaign contributions.  There's the future to think about, specifically the congress critter's own personal future.  Sitting on boards of directors, accepting CEO positions or consulting positions, joining or forming lobbying groups ... all are possible futures for these politicos, and they know it. 

So, it's not all the GOP's fault; the DINOs have done their own share of damage to our nation, especially those "totebagger liberals" Dr. Black referred to.

But, hey!  2014 is an election year.  Maybe this time . . .