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> The vast majority of non-democratic institutions in the US lean heavily liberal: media, academia, and tech companies are all very liberal. The current SCOTUS

> The vast majority of non-democratic institutions in the US lean heavily liberal: media, academia, and tech companies are all very liberal. The current SCOTUS is the only major exception. Mixing democratic and non-democratic institutions hardly seems fair, especially since only one of those has the direct power to govern. You left out the Senate, which is split 50/50 and likely won’t be shortly. You also left out state governments, which are overwhelmingly controlled in totality by the Conservative party. Not to mention the federal judiciary. The idea that conservatives aren’t in control is simply false; they are in control of vast swaths of government, and will almost certainly consolidate that power shortly. Even the nominally liberal-controlled elements of government are stymied by the conservative element, a defacto loss of control. If you want to stick to soft power, we could talk more about that. But if you want to include hard power, then your argument holds no water.

cato_the_elder 4y ago
> You left out the Senate, which is split 50/50 and likely won’t be shortly. While you are correct in that the Republicans have a good chance of flipping the Senate, my claim was about non-democratic institutions. I think it's fair to count the Senate as a democratic one. Since the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment [1], Senators are directly elected. > Not to mention the federal judiciary. I'm not sure about that. According to Ballotpedia [2], 403 of the current Article III federal judges were appointed by a Democrat president, while 391 were appointed by a Republican. > If you want to stick to soft power, we could talk more about that. But if you want to include hard power, then your argument holds no water. That's probably the root of our disagreement. Soft power is still political power. Tocqueville had warned us about soft despotism. [3] One test to determine who's in power is to see whose values are more dangerous to make fun of. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the... [2]: https://archive.ph/r4f5t https://archive.ph/r4f5t [3]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_despotism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_despotism
- drewbug01 4y ago
  Point well taken; I mixed up “democratic” and “governmental” in my reply. In any case: I think my broader point of “conservatives have plenty of power” is pretty reasonable. I’m not sure I agree with your implication that it’s more dangerous to make fun of liberals. If by that you mean “I wish to make fun of liberals and their values but then still remained gainfully employed by a company that claims to adhere to those values”, then sure I guess you have a point. But in the same fashion I highly doubt I could get a job at the Heritage Foundation, you know? Tribalism doesn’t necessarily have a direct relationship to power.

cato_the_elder 4y ago

> You left out the Senate, which is split 50/50 and likely won’t be shortly. While you are correct in that the Republicans have a good chance of flipping the Senate, my claim was about non-democratic institutions. I think it's fair to count the Senate as a democratic one. Since the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment [1], Senators are directly elected. > Not to mention the federal judiciary. I'm not sure about that. According to Ballotpedia [2], 403 of the current Article III federal judges were appointed by a Democrat president, while 391 were appointed by a Republican. > If you want to stick to soft power, we could talk more about that. But if you want to include hard power, then your argument holds no water. That's probably the root of our disagreement. Soft power is still political power. Tocqueville had warned us about soft despotism. [3] One test to determine who's in power is to see whose values are more dangerous to make fun of. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the... [2]: https://archive.ph/r4f5t https://archive.ph/r4f5t [3]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_despotism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_despotism

drewbug01 4y ago
Point well taken; I mixed up “democratic” and “governmental” in my reply. In any case: I think my broader point of “conservatives have plenty of power” is pretty reasonable. I’m not sure I agree with your implication that it’s more dangerous to make fun of liberals. If by that you mean “I wish to make fun of liberals and their values but then still remained gainfully employed by a company that claims to adhere to those values”, then sure I guess you have a point. But in the same fashion I highly doubt I could get a job at the Heritage Foundation, you know? Tribalism doesn’t necessarily have a direct relationship to power.