12-11-2021, 11:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-11-2021, 11:29 PM by Eric the Green.)
(12-11-2021, 10:24 PM)Anthony Wrote: Whether or not to end the filibuster at all constitutes a high-stakes game of chicken.
What if the Democrats somehow succeed in abolishing the filibuster within the next six months or so, only to see the Republicans obtain "trifecta control" in Washington - the White House, plus majorities in both houses of Congress - come 2025?
In that case, look for the Republicans to pursue a scorched-earth agenda, repealing every piece of progressive legislation dating all the way back to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 - and to quote Billy Jack in the movie that bears his name, there won't be one God-damn thing that the Democrats will be able to do about it.
Apparently Joe Manchin (and maybe Biden as well) seems to be the only one who is concerned about this.
Meanwhile, Joe Manchin is too chicken to bypass the filibuster when necessary even without repealing it, in order to pass voting rights legislation-- without which Republicans will be able to install party hacks as election officials and enable legislators to cancel the vote of the people and just decide to give electoral votes to the Republicans regardless of the vote in their states.
The filibuster will need to be removed if the Republicans remain an extremist Party that opposes all needed actions to protect our country and our world. We are in emergency times, and emergency measures are needed. What will be needed as well is for Senate seats to be given to Puerto Rico and DC to cement the Democratic majority. But right now this can't be done without bypassing or abolishing the filibuster too.
If enough Democrats are ever elected to the Senate, giving seats to DC and PR could even enable Democrats to pass needed legislation without the need to fully or permanently repeal the filibuster. Repealing it is a dangerous move, indeed, but one which the Republicans have already pursued successfully in order to install a right-wing supreme court. Turnabout is fair play.
If the demographic changes due in the USA are enough to overturn neoliberalism and prejudice and their 40-year rulership of the USA, then maybe we can return to normal times by the end of the 4T, and such moves as ending the filibuster entirely won't be needed. But the filibuster has become today merely a way to make our government unable to function. That is the only purpose of the filibuster today, since it must be outvoted for every piece of proposed legislation before a debate even begins. This kind of filibuster is not traditional and is certainly not in the constitution. Legislators who want to filibuster a bill should be required to do it the old fashioned way, and be required to speak continuously like Jimmy Stewart did in the movie or that southerners did against the civil rights bill.