j.r. leonard

And I don’t know what false choice you’re taking about. The conversation started because I said that voters weren’t just going to reward Dems for the ACA just because Dem partisans think it the morally right thing to do

I don't agree with your model of the American voter. They don't know what works or doesn't unless there is a huge failure like the recession or the Iraq war. There is a huge negativity bias where they hate the most recent winning party.

Sure, but it doesn’t really matter. The system doesn’t need to always reward or punish correctly. It just needs to discipline. I fear that partisanship is eroding that ability but the system has been moderately successful with some version of pragmatism

Partisanship as far as "treating political parties like sports teams" is a problem. Ppl need to be willing to correct their party instead of just supporting them bc they are "on their side." That being said, the GOP has become a suicide cult, leaving a lot less flexibility.

I agree, which is why I wish Dems would be better at elections

What would make them better about winning elections? I do not think "stop moralizing" is a good take as the Rs moralize constantly (religious right is a core constituency).

Politics isn’t fair. It’s possible that moralizing works fine for Rs but not for Dems Dems also conduct a whole lot of circular firing squads

Any party that is losing does. Particularly now that partisanship is high and political party power is low. Which I partially blame on goo-goos like myself who supported eliminating earmarks, aka bribes to keep members in line.