I don’t know. For me them trying to kill each other might be preferable to them making out. I don’t believe in leagues or dating tiers or whatever but this is one situation where I do believe Leslie can do better.
Bogeywoman
I have the distinct impression leslie doesn’t really do “better…. she’s a classically tragic saph
Clif
They could try to make out and kill each other at the same time.
Considering the usual results when Congress just has to “Do something!”, doing nothing would frequently be an improvement. What people don’t seem to understand is that the US government was deliberately designed to move slowly and do nothing much of the time. You can call it gridlock, I call it a feature, not a bug.
Call *me* cynical, but I suspect the viewpoint that the government is supposed to be useless is used by people who don’t even follow politics to excuse the fact that they don’t, or encouraged by predatory politicians to keep people disinterested.
But, y’know, have fun being paid in wooden nickels redeemable at the company store, back in the gilded age when the government did a hell of a lot less. Maybe you can get one of those tiny live-in sweatshop apartments that were all the rage back then, be forced to have your family participate in your 12+ hour days just so you can keep living there.
Or maybe I could go less historically esoteric and just shut off the government provided water and electricity? Would that make my point?
Thag Simmons
Acknowledging a bitter political reality like “the American government is flawed and deeply unjust by design” is not saying you should not engage in politics.
deathjavu
My point is that, flawed as it is, the government is incrediblly far away from “doing nothing”, and none of us would like it if it did.
Keulen
We’re pretty much in a new gilded age already, especially since almost all the politicians in the government are more than willing to pass bills that give billions to the military and the rich, but dither around and take forever to pass bills that throw a few crumbs to the working people.
thejeff
Definitely the latter. There’s an element of truth in the “designed to move slowly” aspect, but that was mostly in terms of checks and balances to prevent any one block from controlling the others. The “government is bad” part really only came in with the Reagan Revolution and it’s been the mantra of the GOP ever since. Like most things from that era of politics (and to a slightly lesser extent still”, it was all tied to backlash to the Civil Rights Movement. Things like federal troops used to integrate schools or forced busing – that’s what you were supposed to think of when Reagan said: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Politically this attitude is one of the most destructive things to our democracy. In the before times, even conservative voters expected government to help them. They may not have wanted expansion of rights to others or regulations that interfered with them, but they wanted basic competence and they punished politicians who didn’t deliver. This helped things functioning. The parties had different ideologies and they squabbled, but they also all knew that complete obstruction on any but the biggest issues would hurt them.
Now, while individual presidents and governors may still pay a price for failure, governmental failure benefits the GOP as a whole. Full on obstruction when they’re out of power is seen as the natural failing of government which reinforces the GOP’s basic ideology. Democrats on the other hand still need to make government work in order to get support from their voters.
Honestly? I’m not convinced that gridlock is preferable to the government doing bad things. Gridlock lets politicians promise steadily more dangerous things, comfortable in the idea that it’ll never happen anyway, while letting their opponents get complacent with the electorate’s steadily more detached view of reality. Until suddenly, one day that gridlock is finally broken, and the 19th amendment is repealed “suddenly” after decades of the right promising that’s the only way to really fix things.
Or for the right-wingers out there, a sweeping universal healthcare plan that covers a bunch of “expensive” stuff that would never have made it in if we’d had a proper plan decades earlier that didn’t require a supermajority to pass.
And even then… A government in constant gridlock is a government that never compromises – and we live in a bitterly divided country. What incentive is there for incrementalism, or a moderate approach if it’s no easier to pass than a radical bill? Especially when you know you’ll only ever get one shot, because a supermajority is required to pass anything meaningful, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to lose that supermajority in two years?
Frankly, I think that’s one reason we see people getting more radical ideas these days – people see urgent problems on the horizon, and congress seems unable to accomplish even the bare minimum. Though I guess it doesn’t help that so many mistake things for “Congress being too corrupt to do anything”, instead of “Congress is literally too broken to do anything, and Manchin refuses to vote to fix it.”
Yeah, that last.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying that if Democrats don’t change the filibuster rules, it means they’re basically all lying about everything they say they want, when the reality is that it’s Manchin, Sinema and a couple of others who are blocking it while the rest of the party has come around.
Gridlock is only the best case scenario if you think what’s there now is the best of all possible governments for a given country. Just uh…look out the window and tell me if you think that’s true.
(was just reading “A promised land”, Obama’s latest book, and there’s quite a bit in there about struggling against this kind of cynicism, both internally and externally)
The last four years were not nearly as bad as they could’ve been because the last guy couldn’t get out of his way and they were largely incompetent. He more or less wasted the largest Congressional margins in nearly a century.
Had government been a well oiled machine we would be fucked beyond belief right now.
So when I say best case scenario I mean a situation where our options are nothing changes and things get considerably worse.
Deathjavu
One person’s personal incompetence is not a built in function of government. A lot of the legal details were sloppy and rushed, which caused a lot of successful legal challenges. Which IS government operating as a well oiled legal machine.
thejeff
The largest Congressional margins in the recent past were in Obama’s first term, not Trump’s. They had, counting a couple independents 59-60 Senators and 257 Reps. The Republicans responded by filibustering everything and we blamed Democrats for not getting more and better legislation passed, so they lost control.
Trump had 54 Senators and some 240 Reps. Solid control, but nowhere near the largest margins. The largest margins in a century were under FDR with 76 Senator and 333 Reps.
I’m now looking forward to a scene during Office Hours for Robin. She has the biggest desk of anyone in the Social Sciences department but she has to sit ON it because there isn’t enough room in her broom cupboard of a room for anything else!
135 thoughts on “Disparity”
Ana Chronistic
thanks for the heads up ??
Demoted Oblivious
Very prompt Becky. (Ana)
Demoted Oblivious
Oooo. Server time has improved. It’s still wrong, but less so I think. Time now is 00:00.
Wizard
Yeah, otherwise things might have gotten awkward.
Thag Simmons
Better late than never, I suppose
Sirksome
I’m sure things will workout fine…I mean probably not but it should at least be funny to watch.
Thag Simmons
They probably won’t kill each other
Sirksome
I don’t know. For me them trying to kill each other might be preferable to them making out. I don’t believe in leagues or dating tiers or whatever but this is one situation where I do believe Leslie can do better.
Bogeywoman
I have the distinct impression leslie doesn’t really do “better…. she’s a classically tragic saph
Clif
They could try to make out and kill each other at the same time.
You know, for the sake of compromise.
Amy
That’s a Ruth and Billie thing though
Proto_Eevee
ah yes, That totally makes it all better
Cattleprod
I just noticed that Joyce had glasses in that little… favicon, I think it’s called? But now it’s gone back to the old non-glasses one.
RassilonTDavros
It’s still got glasses on my end.
Deanatay
Now, the Patreon banner, OTOH…
Proto_Eevee
I’m pretty sure it’s just random and using an old one. Mine doesn’t have Joyce at all
Jane
I – I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the problem, Robin.
cmasta1992
I’m not one for cynicism but gridlock being the best case scenario sometimes is a bit of a bummer
Wizard
Considering the usual results when Congress just has to “Do something!”, doing nothing would frequently be an improvement. What people don’t seem to understand is that the US government was deliberately designed to move slowly and do nothing much of the time. You can call it gridlock, I call it a feature, not a bug.
Jamie
All those stimulus checks must have been terrible for you.
Despite Rage
Do you normally change your mind about someone as soon as they slip you a little cash?
thejeff
If my opinion was “They never do anything for me”, maybe.
RassilonTDavros
“We should do something!”
“Should we do something?”
“We should do something!”
“Should we do something?”
cmasta1992
Doing something is good when your guys are in charge.
Doing something can be fatal when they’re not.
Clif
Congratulations, you’ve discovered the fundamental principle of political science.
StClair
Bingo.
Jeff K!
Ah, I see you are a person of culture as well.
*Puts on 90s Kid’s glasses*
DUUUUDE!
BBCC
I am a MAN! *punch, fist returns holding a teddy bear* Bear! 😀
RassilonTDavros
Never assume A Man does not have Ninja-Style Dancers at his disposal!
Deanatay
L: We should do something!
C: I agree we should do something!
L: Let’s do THIS!
C: Let’s NOT do that!
thejeff
A syllogism:
Something must be done.
This is something.
Therefore, this must be done.
Deathjavu
Call *me* cynical, but I suspect the viewpoint that the government is supposed to be useless is used by people who don’t even follow politics to excuse the fact that they don’t, or encouraged by predatory politicians to keep people disinterested.
But, y’know, have fun being paid in wooden nickels redeemable at the company store, back in the gilded age when the government did a hell of a lot less. Maybe you can get one of those tiny live-in sweatshop apartments that were all the rage back then, be forced to have your family participate in your 12+ hour days just so you can keep living there.
Or maybe I could go less historically esoteric and just shut off the government provided water and electricity? Would that make my point?
Thag Simmons
Acknowledging a bitter political reality like “the American government is flawed and deeply unjust by design” is not saying you should not engage in politics.
deathjavu
My point is that, flawed as it is, the government is incrediblly far away from “doing nothing”, and none of us would like it if it did.
Keulen
We’re pretty much in a new gilded age already, especially since almost all the politicians in the government are more than willing to pass bills that give billions to the military and the rich, but dither around and take forever to pass bills that throw a few crumbs to the working people.
thejeff
Definitely the latter. There’s an element of truth in the “designed to move slowly” aspect, but that was mostly in terms of checks and balances to prevent any one block from controlling the others. The “government is bad” part really only came in with the Reagan Revolution and it’s been the mantra of the GOP ever since. Like most things from that era of politics (and to a slightly lesser extent still”, it was all tied to backlash to the Civil Rights Movement. Things like federal troops used to integrate schools or forced busing – that’s what you were supposed to think of when Reagan said: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Politically this attitude is one of the most destructive things to our democracy. In the before times, even conservative voters expected government to help them. They may not have wanted expansion of rights to others or regulations that interfered with them, but they wanted basic competence and they punished politicians who didn’t deliver. This helped things functioning. The parties had different ideologies and they squabbled, but they also all knew that complete obstruction on any but the biggest issues would hurt them.
Now, while individual presidents and governors may still pay a price for failure, governmental failure benefits the GOP as a whole. Full on obstruction when they’re out of power is seen as the natural failing of government which reinforces the GOP’s basic ideology. Democrats on the other hand still need to make government work in order to get support from their voters.
Jane
Honestly? I’m not convinced that gridlock is preferable to the government doing bad things. Gridlock lets politicians promise steadily more dangerous things, comfortable in the idea that it’ll never happen anyway, while letting their opponents get complacent with the electorate’s steadily more detached view of reality. Until suddenly, one day that gridlock is finally broken, and the 19th amendment is repealed “suddenly” after decades of the right promising that’s the only way to really fix things.
Or for the right-wingers out there, a sweeping universal healthcare plan that covers a bunch of “expensive” stuff that would never have made it in if we’d had a proper plan decades earlier that didn’t require a supermajority to pass.
And even then… A government in constant gridlock is a government that never compromises – and we live in a bitterly divided country. What incentive is there for incrementalism, or a moderate approach if it’s no easier to pass than a radical bill? Especially when you know you’ll only ever get one shot, because a supermajority is required to pass anything meaningful, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to lose that supermajority in two years?
Frankly, I think that’s one reason we see people getting more radical ideas these days – people see urgent problems on the horizon, and congress seems unable to accomplish even the bare minimum. Though I guess it doesn’t help that so many mistake things for “Congress being too corrupt to do anything”, instead of “Congress is literally too broken to do anything, and Manchin refuses to vote to fix it.”
Jhon
We got rid of the 18th amendment.
We can do the same for the 19th!
thejeff
Yeah, that last.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying that if Democrats don’t change the filibuster rules, it means they’re basically all lying about everything they say they want, when the reality is that it’s Manchin, Sinema and a couple of others who are blocking it while the rest of the party has come around.
Deathjavu
Gridlock is only the best case scenario if you think what’s there now is the best of all possible governments for a given country. Just uh…look out the window and tell me if you think that’s true.
(was just reading “A promised land”, Obama’s latest book, and there’s quite a bit in there about struggling against this kind of cynicism, both internally and externally)
cmasta1992
The last four years were not nearly as bad as they could’ve been because the last guy couldn’t get out of his way and they were largely incompetent. He more or less wasted the largest Congressional margins in nearly a century.
Had government been a well oiled machine we would be fucked beyond belief right now.
So when I say best case scenario I mean a situation where our options are nothing changes and things get considerably worse.
Deathjavu
One person’s personal incompetence is not a built in function of government. A lot of the legal details were sloppy and rushed, which caused a lot of successful legal challenges. Which IS government operating as a well oiled legal machine.
thejeff
The largest Congressional margins in the recent past were in Obama’s first term, not Trump’s. They had, counting a couple independents 59-60 Senators and 257 Reps. The Republicans responded by filibustering everything and we blamed Democrats for not getting more and better legislation passed, so they lost control.
Trump had 54 Senators and some 240 Reps. Solid control, but nowhere near the largest margins. The largest margins in a century were under FDR with 76 Senator and 333 Reps.
BBCC
Awww, Becky’s daughter is helping!
I still feel Robin has lots of making up to do, but now that she can’t cause harm in office anymore, I can at least laugh at some of her lines again.
Yumi
I was really confused by your first sentence before I realized it was just a mistake.
BBCC
FUCK yes, that should say ‘Leslie’s daughter’.
Times like this, I wish the comment section had an edit button like on Patreon.
Yumi
During the timeskip, Becky adopted a small child; she just hasn’t been relevant until now.
Rainhat
No good- Becky would never skip a chance to repeat important backstory about herself.
Despite Rage
She’s done it every minute of every day… It was just all off panel.
Demoted Oblivious
But then we miss out on these lityle humanizing ezchanges.
RassilonTDavros
Out of curiosity, have any fan artists drawn Becky/Dina fankids?
BarerMender
If I were an artist, I would now.
Thag Simmons
Yeah, it’d be nize to not have miner mistakes and tpyos staring you in the face with no way to correkt them.
Lieutenant Dan
We apologise for the fault in the comments. Those responsible have been sacked.
Geneseepaws
Well done!
No! Llama bites can be very dangerous.
Jhon
What, wait. The Patreon has an edit button?
BBCC
Yeah, it’s pretty sweet.
milu
i read “Awww, Becky’s daughter is dating” and i thought, well that’s a very strange thing to say, but it is sort of funny =)
Demoted Oblivious
Oh Robin, status isn’t based on class-size, but on office size and location and required hours.
Thag Simmons
She’s new to this.
BenRG
I’m now looking forward to a scene during Office Hours for Robin. She has the biggest desk of anyone in the Social Sciences department but she has to sit ON it because there isn’t enough room in her broom cupboard of a room for anything else!
Demoted Oblivious
Is this a slipshine?
Sambo
Status IS based on class size: professors with more prestige get to teach smaller classes!
Raen
As I remember it, the largest classes went to the *least* prestigious professors.
Stephen Bierce
*plays Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax” on the hacked Muzak*
BarerMender
Who do you think needs to… ah… relax?
Deanatay
Don’t do it! Do it do it…
dej
Fashionably late warning from Becky
RassilonTDavros
Becky’s helping!
Nayann Martinelli
I hope Becky never finds herself in the position of having to yell “watch out, tiger”.
He Who Abides
Little late, Rebecca.
RassilonTDavros