Boris Marshalov Quotes

When requested to have the assembly remove items in the proposed constitution at the last minute:

Personal attacks have been made in the Congress ever since that body first met. However, they were infrequent and raised concern when they were made. However, in the late 1980s, there was a series of personal attacks made across the political parties culminating in the resignation of Wright as the Speaker of the House. Some Republicans had objected to the failure to confirm John Tower as Defense Secretary because of his serious alcoholism problem which was made public, and in turn made public some of Wright’s indiscretions. From then on the personal invective and attacks increases and there was retaliation by both parties that went on for decades. At first it was exposures of real incidents but by the 21st century, the attacks were often fabricated. For example, Barack Obama was called a “Socialist Muslim” by Republicans. See {624107}

At the time Congress was gridlocked in bitter hyperpartisan conflict. Most people called for more comity and bipartisanship and most politicians wanted more bipartisanship but blamed the other party for the rift. Mourdock, arguing for less bipartisanship and no compromise defeated Richard Lugar in the Republican Senatorial Primary election. Lugar, one of the most respected and effective Senators was a statesman who worked with any and all to find effective compromises to reach national solutions. The nation was so politically polarized that the Republican Indiana voters ousted one of their most senior senators because he was effective at developing national solutions. See {626717} and {302706} for other Mourdock’s outrageous comments. While this rhetoric won in the Primary, it lost him the general election in a state where Republicans had a strong majority and should have had the seat.

At the time, the Republicans held the House of Representatives, but not the Senate or the Presidency. By popular vote, even the House elections had the majority voting for the Democrats, but the gerrymandering gave the Republicans more seats. A minority of the minority Republicans were Tea Party Republicans—ultra conservatives who would not compromise but who intimidated other Republicans by threatening to run candidates against them in primary elections. The result was that the Tea Party Republicans—a minority of the minority could block almost any legislation and did. That Congress passed less legislation than any in American history including the “Do Nothing Congress” of the Truman era.

In the beginning of the 21st century political hyper-polarization made Congressional gridlock the norm. Anything that was acceptable to the Democrats would be rejected by the Republicans and vica versa. However, at times, the public would be impassioned by events and demand Congressional action. A movement for gun control after a serious of massacres with assault weapons in 2012 was the example that Thomas was using. If the legislative process could be stretched out until public passions waned, the normal gridlo{78528}k would control and there would be no reform.