I sure hope these years end up representing the country's low moment.
Both sides of this equation are ugly and embarrassing.
If a is greater than (>) b and b is greater than (>) c, then a is said to be much greater than (>>) c.
-- Euclid
I do not agree with that at all. I don't, first of all, because when it comes to the two major parties' devoir and delegated authority for soundly, sagely governing, what we have in the U.S. is
not an equation but rather an inequality. Also, whereas prior to January 2017 the ">" or "<" symbols aptly described the inequality of onus and obligation attendant to the two major parties and their adherents, the results of the 2016 produced a situation whereby only ">>" or "<<." The reason that is so is indisputable among rational observers. (There's no telling what irrational observers consider debatable.)
Let a be the delegated authority to legislate (control of Congress).
Let aD and aR be the respective share of that authority held by Democrats and Republicans.
Let b be the delegated authority to administer the government (control of Presidency).
Let bD and bR be the respective share of that authority held by Democrats and Republicans. (Obviously, the relative shares for this dimension of delegated authority are, at any given moment, 100% and 0%.)
Let c be the delegated authority to interpret legislation (control of the SCOTUS).
Let cC and cL be the respective share of that authority held by Conservative and Liberal Justices.
Currently,
- aR >> aD because Republicans control both houses of Congress, and
- bR >> bD because a Republican is POTUS, and
- cC > cL because Conservatives have the majority on the Court.
- ∴ aR + bR + cC >> aD + bD + cL.
Because Liberals at the moment have no formal delegated authority in the halls of formal/official power, they have no title to, nor can one credibly impute to them, any measure of the ugliness or chagrin accruing from any policies broached or enacted at this juncture in American politics and governance.