08-29-2009, 11:30 PM
Quote:Stripped of your flowery pseudo-populism and anti-state mindset, I actually agree with you here. Changing the rules to meet circumstance is not something that is necessary or desirable in this case.
Not, of course, that the filibuster-proof majority is some kind of aberration. No matter how much you might not like it, the "whimsy" of "mere citizens" elected a large democratic majority last election. That their governance hinges on having not just a majority, but a 60 seat supermajority, shows just how bitter and petty the congress has gotten. It's why you're seeing both parties trying to pull tricks like this - if they can't work together, they're going to work the system.
But it's nothing new. It's just underhanded.
-Jester
Echoing Jester's words. Of course, this is more than just a sign of the broad political times - this is very specific to just how far Massachusetts corruption has gotten. It really is sickening to me, more and more each day, how far this state is falling. They raised the sales tax from 5% to 6.25%, doubled the toll rates going into / out of Boston, and all this to pay for a failing budget? Oh, and they changed the meals tax to be open-ended - now each town can choose its own meals tax rate (I've heard reports of one place going as high as 12%, I think? It was over 7%, though, I know for sure). The stupidity of this states citizens is astounding. They voted for a PARTY, not a PERSON, in electing our (utterly laughable, corrupt, HORRENDOUS) Governor. Ironically, the very people who voted him in have turned on him in vast numbers because of his sheer incompetence in running this state. Now this happens. It's truly sickening.
This state is circling the drain at an alarming rate, and it's only getting worse. I honestly am worried about the next few years living here, because things only seem to be looking worse by the day. Of course, our own political debacles seem to be echoed in the grand stage (vote anti-partisan, instead of pro-representation).
I already know the Senate is going to do what they want: they'll pass the new legislature to reverse the changes they made for Romney, we'll get another corrupt politician thrust into a seat of power, and we'll have to suffer through until elections come around. By then, of course, he'll be incumbent, and no one will be able to run against him and succeed. So it goes. Nothing new in this state.
I grow weary of the follies of my state. The more I live here, the more I think the grass may truly be greener elsewhere - maybe Connecticut.:P
Roland *The Gunslinger*