> I think "hold the first accountable" is the wrong focus to have here, especially since so much of what the Republicans do violates norms rather than actual rules
Why not defend norms? If the premise is that the divide isn’t so bad, standing up for decency without needing to pass a law is at least as big a deal as a tan suit.
> I think it would be better to see the Democrats adopt their tactics, i.e. using every available mechanism to oppose everything they do as forcefully as possible, as opposed to meekly waiting for good faith from the other side which will never be forthcoming.
I’m confused how this is a distinction. The tactic that achieves that is holding the other side accountable.
> The other thing with "holding accountable" is that it can backfire. Imagine a second Trump impeachment passing. It would be perfect for the Republicans. They would have a solution to the problem of his potential reelection bid (which they would like to avoid), while simultaneously he would be a martyr as well as a symbol of what "cancel culture" / "leftist authoritarians" took away from you, the patriots.
Please understand that I’m not picking on you and don’t have any real quarrel with you. But this is exactly the kind of spinelessness I’m talking about. Read it back to yourself and see how much you’ve conceded before you even began. You’re accepting their advantage (which is structural not messaging) and just giving the whole battle up. They get to walk away with the win and still claim cancel culture bullshit because who would dare question them?
They need to lose. They need to be shown they can and will and do lose. That’s what accountability achieves. You can’t stack the Senate for the Dems, but you can sure as shit keep it in their hands with some real trials.