Broken is the word used most often these days to describe the United States Senate. The greatest deliberative body in the world can’t get anything done because of obscure rules and traditions, including the filibuster, which can be invoked at any time by any Senator to stymie movement of bills and appointments to a vote, either in committee or on the floor.
"[McConnell] will.... go about the business of overturning every law passed by Democrats in the last 50 years beginning with Obamacare and going right through improvements in the areas of immigration, voting rights, campaign finance…anything with Democratic fingerprints on it...."
Will somebody PLEASE tell me something positive that the GOP is FOR?
All I see and hear is about destroying things. They want to: destroy abortion rights, destroy birth control, destroy sex education, destroy civil rights for minorities, destroy civil rights for homosexuals, destroy voting rights, destroy public education, destroy science, destroy the teaching of history, destroy unions, destroy environmental protections, destroy the IRS, destroy Medicaid, destroy Medicare, destroy Social Security, destroy gun control laws....have I left out anything else that the GOP wants to destroy? Assuming they were to succeed at all or most of these goals, what kind of a society to they envision? I would really like to know.
The filibuster was created by mistake when the Senate, cleaning up its rule book in 1806, failed to include a provision to cut off debate. (A so-called cloture rule allowing two-thirds of senators to end a filibuster was adopted in 1917; the proportion was reduced to three-fifths in 1975.) The filibuster encouraged extremism, not comity: It was a favorite tool of pro-slavery senators before the Civil War and segregationists after it.
The discomfort was welling up yesterday over the partisanship of the Supreme Court. Now I am hanging onto a bucket hoping, wondering if this feeling will ever go away.
I have never assumed that Manchin and Sinema were other than opportunists. Manchin isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier as is obvious to almost everyone, but Sinema has held her cards so tightly, it is hard to know if she's wily or just wicked or both. But that said, BOTH of them have been in that Stinky Senate long enough to know the rules of the road and BOTH of them know Moscow Mitch for what he is. BOTH of them know that he uses the filibuster however he chooses - it can come or it can go as he sees fit. It's a gimmick. Like a toy rattle that the toddlers can shake in their little fists.
My bet is that BOTH of them have so much illicit and dark money (probably from Russia as well as Koch and others) that they don't dare buck the rest of the oligarchs on the other side of the aisle. As someone I held dear used to say, "They're afraid their gowns will fly up and we'll see what lies beneath." Ewww.
From the 1850's there's been a hard core states rights faction in America, sometimes with Democrats, other times with Republicans. Should Democrats keep the congress and win the presidency in 2024 the states rights faction will back up, quiet down and patiently wait. What choice do they have? The buffoonery in the Senate is not unnoticed. The Internet gives attention to all sides and most people being reasonable eventually figure out what is wrong. Rand Paul has no credibility and Mitch McConnell is universally seen as a hard core reactionary with an agenda written at the Federalist Society. The stench of corruption and ideology in the Senate will rise up and America will do something about it as they did in the 1890's. Do not underestimate the chance for serious reform of Senate rules.
My husband used to say that what we should do is eliminate the present Congress and do it a different way:
1. Make all terms (both House and Senate) 5 years, and no re-election. No chance of anyone staying in office more than 5 years. If you can't get your shit together by then, you were a lousy pick.
2. Make everyone eligible for being voted in. Your Mom's mailman, anyone without a criminal record who had never been in elective office before. Minimum age 18, maximum, 70.
3. Make the requirements a bit different: Nobody can have a net worth of over 1 million, and have no previous government experience.
4. Eliminate all lobbyists-ban them outright.
I think it would work but the multimillionaires who've been sitting in Congress for 30 years will have a shit fit and thus it wouldn't pass.
Too bad-it will rid us of the temper tantrum throwing crybabies who think it's all about them.
Both Manchin and Sinema may call themselves Democrats but look where the vast majority of their contributions come from. Corporate donors. They are reliable votes for these special interests ; as reliable as any Republican. But, think there is something else afoot here. It is the fact neither of these are the sharpest tacks in the box and seem susceptible to actually believing the trope that the Senate is the world's greatest deliberative body and that if they vote to suspend the filibuster rule they will, somehow , be committing a sin against the Constitution.
Both these Senators are punching way above their intellectual weight but in the end have surrendered to the oldest disease in the book; Believing your own publicity. Someone needs to bring them back to Earth and reality. Possible someone from the DNC who might inform them they will not be receiving any money for their upcoming runs to hold their seats. Losing them will not mean that much to the Ds as the more often than not cannot be depended upon.
Lucian...my assumption is that you used the ridiculous "greatest deliberative body in the world" facetiously. I was so disgusted by that body's hijinks last year that, assuming the only one who could have said such a thing had to be a senator, I checked the source. actually, there was no final determination, but most places said Daniel Webster, so uhhh....
"[McConnell] will.... go about the business of overturning every law passed by Democrats in the last 50 years beginning with Obamacare and going right through improvements in the areas of immigration, voting rights, campaign finance…anything with Democratic fingerprints on it...."
Will somebody PLEASE tell me something positive that the GOP is FOR?
All I see and hear is about destroying things. They want to: destroy abortion rights, destroy birth control, destroy sex education, destroy civil rights for minorities, destroy civil rights for homosexuals, destroy voting rights, destroy public education, destroy science, destroy the teaching of history, destroy unions, destroy environmental protections, destroy the IRS, destroy Medicaid, destroy Medicare, destroy Social Security, destroy gun control laws....have I left out anything else that the GOP wants to destroy? Assuming they were to succeed at all or most of these goals, what kind of a society to they envision? I would really like to know.
“as principled as a rabid wolverine” That’s a good one. Thank you, Lucian
The filibuster was created by mistake when the Senate, cleaning up its rule book in 1806, failed to include a provision to cut off debate. (A so-called cloture rule allowing two-thirds of senators to end a filibuster was adopted in 1917; the proportion was reduced to three-fifths in 1975.) The filibuster encouraged extremism, not comity: It was a favorite tool of pro-slavery senators before the Civil War and segregationists after it.
Thank you for thinking about issues that make my head hurt. Nailed it, Lucian.
The discomfort was welling up yesterday over the partisanship of the Supreme Court. Now I am hanging onto a bucket hoping, wondering if this feeling will ever go away.
You've had a string of home runs, Lucian. This is only the latest
And you still feel it's worth sticking around for the final act. Good on you Sir.
so tired of all this
America is a very depressing place these days….
I have never assumed that Manchin and Sinema were other than opportunists. Manchin isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier as is obvious to almost everyone, but Sinema has held her cards so tightly, it is hard to know if she's wily or just wicked or both. But that said, BOTH of them have been in that Stinky Senate long enough to know the rules of the road and BOTH of them know Moscow Mitch for what he is. BOTH of them know that he uses the filibuster however he chooses - it can come or it can go as he sees fit. It's a gimmick. Like a toy rattle that the toddlers can shake in their little fists.
My bet is that BOTH of them have so much illicit and dark money (probably from Russia as well as Koch and others) that they don't dare buck the rest of the oligarchs on the other side of the aisle. As someone I held dear used to say, "They're afraid their gowns will fly up and we'll see what lies beneath." Ewww.
From the 1850's there's been a hard core states rights faction in America, sometimes with Democrats, other times with Republicans. Should Democrats keep the congress and win the presidency in 2024 the states rights faction will back up, quiet down and patiently wait. What choice do they have? The buffoonery in the Senate is not unnoticed. The Internet gives attention to all sides and most people being reasonable eventually figure out what is wrong. Rand Paul has no credibility and Mitch McConnell is universally seen as a hard core reactionary with an agenda written at the Federalist Society. The stench of corruption and ideology in the Senate will rise up and America will do something about it as they did in the 1890's. Do not underestimate the chance for serious reform of Senate rules.
One correction, Lucian....Tom Cotton is not from Missouri.
My husband used to say that what we should do is eliminate the present Congress and do it a different way:
1. Make all terms (both House and Senate) 5 years, and no re-election. No chance of anyone staying in office more than 5 years. If you can't get your shit together by then, you were a lousy pick.
2. Make everyone eligible for being voted in. Your Mom's mailman, anyone without a criminal record who had never been in elective office before. Minimum age 18, maximum, 70.
3. Make the requirements a bit different: Nobody can have a net worth of over 1 million, and have no previous government experience.
4. Eliminate all lobbyists-ban them outright.
I think it would work but the multimillionaires who've been sitting in Congress for 30 years will have a shit fit and thus it wouldn't pass.
Too bad-it will rid us of the temper tantrum throwing crybabies who think it's all about them.
Both Manchin and Sinema may call themselves Democrats but look where the vast majority of their contributions come from. Corporate donors. They are reliable votes for these special interests ; as reliable as any Republican. But, think there is something else afoot here. It is the fact neither of these are the sharpest tacks in the box and seem susceptible to actually believing the trope that the Senate is the world's greatest deliberative body and that if they vote to suspend the filibuster rule they will, somehow , be committing a sin against the Constitution.
Both these Senators are punching way above their intellectual weight but in the end have surrendered to the oldest disease in the book; Believing your own publicity. Someone needs to bring them back to Earth and reality. Possible someone from the DNC who might inform them they will not be receiving any money for their upcoming runs to hold their seats. Losing them will not mean that much to the Ds as the more often than not cannot be depended upon.
Lucian...my assumption is that you used the ridiculous "greatest deliberative body in the world" facetiously. I was so disgusted by that body's hijinks last year that, assuming the only one who could have said such a thing had to be a senator, I checked the source. actually, there was no final determination, but most places said Daniel Webster, so uhhh....
Biden says McConnell is a friend. That is a problem. Garland is week manchin corrupt and Sinima is just plain stupid.