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this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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politics
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God it’s so fucking frustrating that this shit is happening because Rep. Tricia Cotham (was D now R) flipped. And you’d think she’d be like a moderate semi-independent vote considering she ran as a dyed in the wool dem. No. Full on culture wars, full on conservative authoritarianism. I can’t imagine how angry the people who voted for her must be.
This should be considered fraud and she should be arrested.
This whole thing was fucking planned and everyone involved should go to prison: https://news.yahoo.com/turns-rep-tricia-cotham-north-170000213.html
I dunno how anyone from the southeast US expects politics to be different at this point. Deception is kind of a prerequisite down there.
I expect them to do the right thing
I have expectations that they should do the right thing.
Subtle.
Who said anything about expectations? Just because you don't care about injustice in the South doesn't mean the rest of us have to follow along with your cynicism.
I never said I didn’t care.
I said, corruption and deception in politics is common in the GOP down south.
I said, I am surprised they didn’t see this coming.
You’re arguing with the wrong person.
When she flipped, the first thing I asked myself was “is she stepping down?” Staying in office disenfranchised the voters who elected a democrat.
I feel like you should automatically just be kicked out if you do something like that?
That's the point. That's why she lied.
The fact that people like Sinema and Cotham are brazenly cheating Democrat voters proves that the party isn't doing enough to enforce loyalty. These people are worms who should be put out of a job irrespective of the cost and have their careers obliterated.
Loyalty isn't the issue. You either represent the interests of the voters who voted for you or you step down, regardless of party. Otherwise, it's tantamount to (and potentially actually is) fraud.
Not in any way that's legally enforceable. That's why it has to be enforced through party apparatus.
You'd have to change the constitution. Legislators also have individual rights to free party identification under the First Amendment.
I don’t know about enforcing loyalty or what that would even look like. Democrats (at least at the national level) vote more in lockstep than they ever have. The problem is when you have margins so small that one vote is the difference between having or not having a veto-proof majority, a single flip makes an enormous difference.
People defecting on single votes isn't really what I'm looking at regulating here- though voting with the party certainly is an element of party loyalty. What I'm saying is that there should be a will among the activist, voter, and donor class of the Democratic Party to make an example of people who do what Cotham did. The fact that she did it proves that we're not doing enough to nail these fucking worms to the wall.
How would the party do this?
Stonewall them when they get in office. Spend more political and financial capital to make sure they don't get elected and don't pass policy. Ensure constituents know they're a cheater. Support primary challenges against them. Go out of their way to make sure that they don't succeed in their new party.
Leave calls for violence to the demented right-wing. Don't feed into their false narrative of the "violent left."
This logic could be used to say that Bernie should be punished for wanting to support unions. Enforced loyalty is not loyalty; it's bootlicking. Note that I' not saying that these people (not Bernie) aren't assholes and liars who cheated to get elected.
Bernie can't be punished by his party because he doesn't have a party.
Parties need to be able to expel their own members and nobody should be able to simply switch parties mid-session.
Agreed but even if she couldn't switch, could she still obstruct votes like Manchin and Sinema?
That's when the party should be able to expel her and force a special election or appointment. Of course these decisions should be weighed carefully because if the person is popular they can still come back but they'll be pissed and vote accordingly.
I don't think that would necessarily be legal- but I think that parties should be able to sue for damages on the material support given to candidates when those candidates switch parties.
I for one can't wait to watch her bank account mysteriously grow insanely fast relative to her pay. Suddenly she commands a hefty profit for each "speaking engagement" she goes on and any book she writes will get anonymous purchases in the thousands. Uncanny how profit seems to follow turn coaiting.
For good reason we used to tar and feather people. Their fear of the public has vanished. The rabble has forgotten it's power.