The biggest lie of all is the Senate’s claim that it “is the greatest deliberative body in the world.”
The filibuster makes the Senate the least deliberative legislative and least democratic legislative body by allowing a minority of Senators to prevent the Senate from debating, much less voting on, any legislation that is opposed by the minority party
I would appreciate an upcoming newsletter regarding WHY senators are allowed to remain in congress when their obstructionism on voting rights and so many other issues goes directly against the oath of office they took when they got elected. What's the purpose of these clowns taking an oath when they can then proceed to do anything immoral, illegal, unethical, etc. with NO CONSEQUENCES. In private business, they would have already been out the door!
Voting rights groups have written to Biden, saying, correctly in my opinion, that they don't just want speeches, they want Biden to get the legislation passed. Joe Manchin is not the president, nor is he the Senate majority leader. Maybe Chuck Schumer could give a few Republicans something they really want that is not too destructive in exchange for their support for filibuster reform for this critical legislation. Schumer still seems to be in "appeal to better angels" mode, which doesn't work in this political environment. I agree that Lisa Murkowski might be brought on board, because her own political situation is so precarious that she has little to lose.
Longer term, as New York Times columnists David Brooks and Ezra Klein recently pointed out, Democrats really need to end their longstanding practice of focusing on the White House at the expense of state and local elections, and start working hard to elect Democrats to state legislatures, local boards, and critical election supervisor positions, including on so-called red states.
The filibuster is nothing, it is a man-made rule to crush debate. It is being used by the moneyed class and powerful to wrest democracy from the country. Manchin, Sinema, Collins, Murkowski and Romney work for the plutocratic class to keep them in power and are on McConnells very short leash. The only hope that that I can see that voting rights won't crash and burn like BBB is televised hearings on the insurrection and AT THE SAME TIME have nonstop national protests. I'm not optimistic. Look what the Republicans have been able to achieve in Biden's first year in office. Every time I hear, and I hear this all the time, yada, yada, "Trump running in 2024" my brain explodes. What is that really telling us? It is a euphemism for the oligarchic class that will not allow the rule of law to to put a glove on Trump. Without massive grassroots uprising the Republicans have 'got this.'
It's encouraging that Biden seems to be on the campaign trail, hitting hard at the 'forces of darkness' from the GQP and visiting states where it's essential that we maintain our strength and fight back against attempts by the Republicans to gain total control through voting restrictions. But it may well not be enough.
Talks should be underway with the so-called moderate Senators you mentioned with the hopes of getting one Republican Senator, hopefully two, to vote to bring back the older, more workable filibuster which would let the real Democrats actually pass legislation that is critical to the nation and our democracy.
As Biden seems to finally be coming around to the realization that the Republicans will stop any and all sensible Democratic legislation as they did for six years with Obama (why did it take Biden so long to wake up?), a full court press is needed, probing and pressing forward in any and all directions that seem to promise even the smallest of gains.
Biden's Presidency in on a knife's edge, as is our constitutional republic, and it's well past time to take dramatic action so the nation doesn't fall into the hands of the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus/Trump fanatics who are intent on establishing the dictatorship of the corrupt and venal. We cannot let them destroy America.
It’s difficult to see even one republican support the protection of voting rights when they’ve spent the last decades doing everything to destroy them. The few republicans who toy with the idea are unlikely to step up and actually vote for the two bills currently on the table.
At this point perhaps, President Biden might invoke the “Nuclear Option” to overcome republican obstruction as McConnell did to override the filibuster rules to appoint Supreme Court Justices. This is not the time to tread lightly with the goal of bi-partisanship which will never happen, it’s time to grab the bull by the horn and protect voting rights of every American. Our democracy depends on it.
One thing that is needed is a strong grass-roots campaign to reform our political system. This should include replacing the Electoral College, ending gerrymandering and other voter suppression/selection tactics, and ending big moneys' disproportionate influence. I don't know whether Party initiative would hinder this effort, vs. independent organizations like the League of Women Voters and the Campaign for Democracy. But it has to be done before the next presidential election if possible. The status quo is not going to preserve or improve our democracy.
Did you see the Fareed Zakaria special last night on CNN? I now have a better understanding of the WHY Repugnants have sold their souls - to defeat the Left at all cost, including the cost of our democracy. Defeating the Left "trumps" our democracy; it's the most important thing to them. I can't see how we're going to defeat a Party that would rather sacrifice our entire way of life, our freedoms, our rights - in order to keep the Left from gaining power.
The obvious answer is that democracy is more important. We are in a quagmire at this moment that is complicated and problematic in many ways. What is going on in Georgia is emblematic of what is going on in the rest of the country. We need a Stacey Abrams in every state. We must lead by her example in whatever ways we can. If we can get the Freedom to Vote Act passed, we will make Election Day a national holiday. We also need national standards for voter I.D. and paper ballots as backup for counting votes. Abrams' efforts in the GA elections boosted voter turnout, thereby accumulating more votes for Biden and giving Dems control of the Senate. In 2021, 52 restrictive voter laws were passed. Nineteen states enacted 33 new laws and 440 restrictive bills have been introduced. We urgently need the current Democratic bills to be passed. If Trump runs again we will have more than just a constitutional crisis. It could lead to a civil war, authoritarianism, or worse, a WWIII. These problems seem insurmountable as a whole, but taken one step at a time on a daily basis, we can confront the issues and find our way out. I look forward to Biden's next impassioned speech and continue to hope that we can save our democracy.
There is something I am happy to see from Democrats that needs to keep going. The way Joe Biden spoke in his speech, direct, powerful, simple, effective, honest…is the way Democrats need to speak. Jim Clyburn’s honest comment that the 15th Amendment was NOT a bipartisan is the way to go to put an end to republican talking point distractions. He called the republicans out!
I think getting a few republicans over to vote for voting rights is far better than giving Sinema and Manchin so much power.
As a 50 year long activist, I've learned one important lesson. When you reach the point of frustration so severe, you can't think of anything else, it is time to admit defeat. Admitting defeat changes everything. The opposition is so busy celebrating, they get sloppy and so convinced they won the war, they get lazy too. And that leaves you free to work on things that matter.
That's why, I think we should just admit that we cannot pass voting rights legislation and keep the filibuster too. Throw the filibuster away, and Democrats and Republicans alike, will be forced to play by new rules. While the Senate is in chaos, Democrats will control the House for another year, giving them time to pass legislation that makes this country a Democracy once and for all.
Time and time again, by vote or polling, the American people have proven themselves, wiser, more moral and fairer than our so-called Representatives. The time has come to lay the Republic to rest, and let Democracy take its rightful place in history.
We can hope and pray for them to help us get the majority, unfortunately the Republicans are not going to do this. They play this game time and time again. Democrats always fall for it. They stick together.
I’m being realistic. You don’t hear Republicans talking about THE BIG LIE, being a LIE. Except for a few, LITERALLY 2; they do nothing.
EVIL THRIVES WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING. It’s going to take a miracle.
Robert, Thank you for the history lesson. Calling the Republican Party a party to governance is a mistake. The Republican Party should be re-named the Anti-Democracy Party.
The biggest lie of all is the Senate’s claim that it “is the greatest deliberative body in the world.”
The filibuster makes the Senate the least deliberative legislative and least democratic legislative body by allowing a minority of Senators to prevent the Senate from debating, much less voting on, any legislation that is opposed by the minority party
I would appreciate an upcoming newsletter regarding WHY senators are allowed to remain in congress when their obstructionism on voting rights and so many other issues goes directly against the oath of office they took when they got elected. What's the purpose of these clowns taking an oath when they can then proceed to do anything immoral, illegal, unethical, etc. with NO CONSEQUENCES. In private business, they would have already been out the door!
Voting rights groups have written to Biden, saying, correctly in my opinion, that they don't just want speeches, they want Biden to get the legislation passed. Joe Manchin is not the president, nor is he the Senate majority leader. Maybe Chuck Schumer could give a few Republicans something they really want that is not too destructive in exchange for their support for filibuster reform for this critical legislation. Schumer still seems to be in "appeal to better angels" mode, which doesn't work in this political environment. I agree that Lisa Murkowski might be brought on board, because her own political situation is so precarious that she has little to lose.
Longer term, as New York Times columnists David Brooks and Ezra Klein recently pointed out, Democrats really need to end their longstanding practice of focusing on the White House at the expense of state and local elections, and start working hard to elect Democrats to state legislatures, local boards, and critical election supervisor positions, including on so-called red states.
The filibuster is nothing, it is a man-made rule to crush debate. It is being used by the moneyed class and powerful to wrest democracy from the country. Manchin, Sinema, Collins, Murkowski and Romney work for the plutocratic class to keep them in power and are on McConnells very short leash. The only hope that that I can see that voting rights won't crash and burn like BBB is televised hearings on the insurrection and AT THE SAME TIME have nonstop national protests. I'm not optimistic. Look what the Republicans have been able to achieve in Biden's first year in office. Every time I hear, and I hear this all the time, yada, yada, "Trump running in 2024" my brain explodes. What is that really telling us? It is a euphemism for the oligarchic class that will not allow the rule of law to to put a glove on Trump. Without massive grassroots uprising the Republicans have 'got this.'
It's encouraging that Biden seems to be on the campaign trail, hitting hard at the 'forces of darkness' from the GQP and visiting states where it's essential that we maintain our strength and fight back against attempts by the Republicans to gain total control through voting restrictions. But it may well not be enough.
Talks should be underway with the so-called moderate Senators you mentioned with the hopes of getting one Republican Senator, hopefully two, to vote to bring back the older, more workable filibuster which would let the real Democrats actually pass legislation that is critical to the nation and our democracy.
As Biden seems to finally be coming around to the realization that the Republicans will stop any and all sensible Democratic legislation as they did for six years with Obama (why did it take Biden so long to wake up?), a full court press is needed, probing and pressing forward in any and all directions that seem to promise even the smallest of gains.
Biden's Presidency in on a knife's edge, as is our constitutional republic, and it's well past time to take dramatic action so the nation doesn't fall into the hands of the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus/Trump fanatics who are intent on establishing the dictatorship of the corrupt and venal. We cannot let them destroy America.
It’s difficult to see even one republican support the protection of voting rights when they’ve spent the last decades doing everything to destroy them. The few republicans who toy with the idea are unlikely to step up and actually vote for the two bills currently on the table.
At this point perhaps, President Biden might invoke the “Nuclear Option” to overcome republican obstruction as McConnell did to override the filibuster rules to appoint Supreme Court Justices. This is not the time to tread lightly with the goal of bi-partisanship which will never happen, it’s time to grab the bull by the horn and protect voting rights of every American. Our democracy depends on it.
One thing that is needed is a strong grass-roots campaign to reform our political system. This should include replacing the Electoral College, ending gerrymandering and other voter suppression/selection tactics, and ending big moneys' disproportionate influence. I don't know whether Party initiative would hinder this effort, vs. independent organizations like the League of Women Voters and the Campaign for Democracy. But it has to be done before the next presidential election if possible. The status quo is not going to preserve or improve our democracy.
Did you see the Fareed Zakaria special last night on CNN? I now have a better understanding of the WHY Repugnants have sold their souls - to defeat the Left at all cost, including the cost of our democracy. Defeating the Left "trumps" our democracy; it's the most important thing to them. I can't see how we're going to defeat a Party that would rather sacrifice our entire way of life, our freedoms, our rights - in order to keep the Left from gaining power.
The obvious answer is that democracy is more important. We are in a quagmire at this moment that is complicated and problematic in many ways. What is going on in Georgia is emblematic of what is going on in the rest of the country. We need a Stacey Abrams in every state. We must lead by her example in whatever ways we can. If we can get the Freedom to Vote Act passed, we will make Election Day a national holiday. We also need national standards for voter I.D. and paper ballots as backup for counting votes. Abrams' efforts in the GA elections boosted voter turnout, thereby accumulating more votes for Biden and giving Dems control of the Senate. In 2021, 52 restrictive voter laws were passed. Nineteen states enacted 33 new laws and 440 restrictive bills have been introduced. We urgently need the current Democratic bills to be passed. If Trump runs again we will have more than just a constitutional crisis. It could lead to a civil war, authoritarianism, or worse, a WWIII. These problems seem insurmountable as a whole, but taken one step at a time on a daily basis, we can confront the issues and find our way out. I look forward to Biden's next impassioned speech and continue to hope that we can save our democracy.
There is something I am happy to see from Democrats that needs to keep going. The way Joe Biden spoke in his speech, direct, powerful, simple, effective, honest…is the way Democrats need to speak. Jim Clyburn’s honest comment that the 15th Amendment was NOT a bipartisan is the way to go to put an end to republican talking point distractions. He called the republicans out!
I think getting a few republicans over to vote for voting rights is far better than giving Sinema and Manchin so much power.
I so hope real republicans like Collins, Murkowski, and Romney have the courage to make voting rights stay strong. It is so important!
I worry about lives being threatened because I can't imaging any other reason why people are hesitating to march on from Trumpism.
As a 50 year long activist, I've learned one important lesson. When you reach the point of frustration so severe, you can't think of anything else, it is time to admit defeat. Admitting defeat changes everything. The opposition is so busy celebrating, they get sloppy and so convinced they won the war, they get lazy too. And that leaves you free to work on things that matter.
That's why, I think we should just admit that we cannot pass voting rights legislation and keep the filibuster too. Throw the filibuster away, and Democrats and Republicans alike, will be forced to play by new rules. While the Senate is in chaos, Democrats will control the House for another year, giving them time to pass legislation that makes this country a Democracy once and for all.
Time and time again, by vote or polling, the American people have proven themselves, wiser, more moral and fairer than our so-called Representatives. The time has come to lay the Republic to rest, and let Democracy take its rightful place in history.
And that is my opinion.
We can hope and pray for them to help us get the majority, unfortunately the Republicans are not going to do this. They play this game time and time again. Democrats always fall for it. They stick together.
I’m being realistic. You don’t hear Republicans talking about THE BIG LIE, being a LIE. Except for a few, LITERALLY 2; they do nothing.
EVIL THRIVES WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING. It’s going to take a miracle.
Robert, Thank you for the history lesson. Calling the Republican Party a party to governance is a mistake. The Republican Party should be re-named the Anti-Democracy Party.
Manchin...Sinema...Dixiecrats
Reich's analysis and argument is always spot on! Thanks for articulating the matter so clearly.