Posted on 10/01/2020 5:20:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
For months, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Senate Democrats have talked about eliminating the filibuster. And with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, the discussion by the Democrats has become even more extreme, with some Senators saying that they must get rid of the filibuster so that they can pack the Supreme Court. Even if not used to pack the Supreme Court, eliminating the filibuster would radically transform the Senate and our country.
Surprisingly, during the first presidential debate on Tuesday night, Biden refused to answer the question about the filibuster: “are you willing to tell the American people whether or not you will support either ending the filibuster or packing the court?” Instead of answering the question, Biden started talking about the need for people to vote.
Those who dislike Donald Trump may think it’s OK to let the Democrats run things for four years. “Never Trumpers” might be fearful of the leftward lurch of the Democratic Party but believe they could always fix things four years later -- that these are just the same scare tactics we hear every four years. But eliminating the filibuster makes this election very different.
Filibusters allow senators to hold the floor for as long as they want, thereby preventing legislation from being passed. The Senate can only end a filibuster with 60 or more votes.
No party has 60 seats in the Senate, so legislation requires some bipartisan support. Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer used to approvingly call the Senate “the cooling saucer for our politics – that can show the nation bipartisanship, compromise and progress.” But if Democrats end the filibuster, simple party-line majorities will be able to pass bills. And if the same party controls both the House and Senate, legislation will be able to zip right through Congress.
If Biden wins, he will likely pull the Senate with him. The election betting odds now estimate that the Democrats will have a 51-to-49 seat majority in the Senate.
The changes Democrats would bring could produce a very different country. Let’s look at their top priorities.
Biden promises on his first day in office to present legislation that would give citizenship to all of the estimated over 22 million undocumented immigrants in the country. The promises of free health insurance and citizenship, not to mention lack of border enforcement, would likely encourage even more illegal immigration into the country.
Democrats’ national platform promises to “stand united against” state voter photo ID requirements and the cleaning up of voter registration rolls. They also propose to make the United States the only country in the world to mandate mail-in balloting.
Democrats promise statehood to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, thereby changing the Senate’s makeup by adding four reliably Democratic seats. They could pass campaign finance laws that make fundraising extremely difficult for challengers. They could even impose a new “fairness doctrine” that would eliminate conservative talk radio.
President Trump’s 200 federal judicial confirmations have only just brought the courts into conservative-liberal balance, with Democratic appointees still controlling circuit courts for 24 states, plus the D.C. circuit court. But Democrats can quickly undo this by passing legislation that expands the number of seats on these lower courts, ensuring massive judicial majorities on every circuit.
Those judicial majorities would ensure that all of the Democrats’ new laws pass constitutional muster. It would also let Democrats control redistricting, to increase their control of the U.S. House and state legislatures.
The Democrats’ platform this year includes gun bans and other regulations such as licensing and registration. This would quickly pass. Free speech would no longer be so free, as “hateful” speech would be criminalized.
The Biden administration would also establish a national commission to recommend what reparations be given to blacks for enduring slavery. And, of course, they will provide federal funding for abortions.
Teachers’ unions will be placated as Biden fulfills his promises to end competition from charter schools and voucher programs such as the DC Opportunity Scholarship program.
But teachers’ unions aren’t the only entities that would be protected from competition. Biden and congressional Democrats have also endorsed California’s new law that bans broad categories workers from being classified as freelancers or independent contractors. Uber, Lyft, and other gig-type businesses are talking about shutting down their operations in the state, and they might find themselves going out of business nationwide.
California and Nevada have already adopted ballot harvesting, which allows organized workers or volunteers to collect absentee ballots from voters and drop them off at a polling place or election office. Democrats may implement similar measures nationwide, further reducing the security of ballots by entrusting the delivery of ballots to partisan campaign employees.
All this and more can happen if Democrats end the filibuster. Democrats have only supported the filibuster in recent years because it prevented Republicans from undoing legislation they liked, such as the Affordable Care Act. Or from passing measures such as school vouchers or national reciprocity for concealed handgun permits.
Democrats now believe they could so fundamentally change the voting rules that they won’t even have to worry about Republicans getting back in power.
If Biden wins and Democrats control the Senate, the country may become unrecognizable.
The democrats are so transparent. They only want rules that benefit themselves. If there was no filibuster and it benefited them to have one, they would demand it be put back. They can’t compete fairly and honestly.
Basically what it means is THEY DON’T EVER INTEND TO LOSE ANOTHER ELECTION AND THE PU$$Y REPUBLICANS CANNOT STOP THEM OR THEIR AGENDA.......................
The filibuster wasn't created to protect the interests of the minority party. It's there because it protects a MAJORITY party that is faced with the dilemma of passing legislation that its voters want but its big-money donors don't want. The filibuster allows a party with a 55-45 majority (for example) to trot out a bunch of assholes on any given issue who will vote for a bill that doesn't pass because it "only" has 55 votes ... while telling their voters that they're so sorry the other party won't let them pass the bill.
This is especially the case with Republicans. If the GOP had 90 seats in the Senate today, they'd pass a Senate rule requiring 95 votes to break a filibuster.
President Trump should take every point so clearly outlined in this article and use it as a campaign ad that blankets EVERY MEDIA outlet.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THIS TRUTH BE TOLD!
When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1821
Eliminating the filibuster makes it harder to stop things - but it also makes it easier to undo those things later and pass things we want. The catch is that first of all there has to be a later time when the GOP controls Congress and the White House - and a bunch of RINO’s can’t destroy efforts to pass conservative legislation. The second condition might be a larger hurdle than the first. Actually there’s a third requirement - the Republican President would have to be a real conservative. Who knows when that will happen again.
The original filibuster rule was 2/3, not 60%.
The result was that you couldn’t get anything done unless everyone agreed. Which resulted in moderate positions.
Ironically, the founders were opposed to super-majority rules, as they had been a problem with the Articles of Confederation.
*****Democrats can quickly undo this by passing legislation that expands the number of seats on these lower courts, ensuring massive judicial majorities on every circuit.*****
Imagine the Ninth Circus Court all over the country!
Well said!
Those who dislike Donald Trump may think it’s OK to let the Democrats run things for four years. “Never Trumpers” might be fearful of the leftward lurch of the Democratic Party but believe they could always fix things four years later — that these are just the same scare tactics we hear every four years. But eliminating the filibuster makes this election very different.
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When Dems get elected, there are remnants of their policies that never go away (even if they are terrible). The thought (by any serious adult) that “things can be fixed in four years” by electing a Republican is delusional. It’s why scum like the Lincoln Project should be challenged everywhere they rear their ugly heads.
It will basically become the Parliamentary system.
Yes, I agree. I never understood the filibuster. They are there to do a job, not stall. I don’t often agree with a Democrat but on this one, I’m ok with it. It will make both sides have to walk the talk and actually VOTE on issues.
“If the filibuster was so important to the survival of this nation it would have been written into the Constitution. It wasn’t.”
Worth saying again. It a bullshit tradition.
There’s something about this article that doesn’t fundamentally make sense to me. There is a filibuster rule now, right? Let’s say the Dems do take a 51-49 majority in the Senate in 2020. Ok...in order to end the filibuster they need to get to a vote, but the filibuster is still in effect, so the Reps could just filibuster the vote to end the filibuster. Problem avoided. Thanks for the call.
The filibuster is an anachronism.
And extra-constitutional.
The sooner it is gone, the better.
“This is especially the case with Republicans.”
So true.
Republicans have been hiding behind the filibuster for decades.
That’s OK with the pubbies cuz they don’t mind being #2 (in a two horse race).
[Reposted from another court-packing thread]
If this court-packing happens, the SCOTUS will become a DemSocRat Party rubber stamp, and we will become “Amerizuela,” with permanent tyrannical one-party rule.
At least, this is what the Rats hope and believe. But in fact, packing the court would be rejected by half of America, and any SCOTUS rulings would be considered the actions of traitors.
This would lead to a shooting Civil War, count on this 100%. Americans will not be enslaved under Communist tyranny without fighting back, and I mean kinetically and by every other means.
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