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credit D. Granlund
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Update: Joe Manchin has placed himself squarely in the camp of the party of sedition by announcing his refusal to vote for S. 1, the pending voting rights bill. He is the only Democratic senator to not co-sponsor the bill that expands and protects access to the ballot at the same time as state legislature controlled by Repugnants act to restrict voting by minorities and youth. His rhetoric justifying his betrayal of democracy is disingenuous in the extreme, since he claims to be protecting democratic government when in fact he is doing exactly the opposite by aiding the seditionists in their assault on democratic government. Manchine should face conccerted Democratic opposition in his state primary as a result of his ideological incompatibility with his Democratic label. Is Manchin's costly holdout a result of his craving for media attention, or does he suffer from the same mental syndrome as Il Douche? If his intransience is merelty negotiating tactic, then it is counterproductive because his "no" vote empowers the authoritarian resistence. Why Joe Biden, whose agenda depends directly on his cooperation, has yet to confront the rogue from West Virginia is unexplained.
The unavoidable choice, the elite club known as the US Senate has assiduously avoided for years, has finally arrived. Senators must decide between preserving their privilege or preserving democracy in America. The filibuster is a creature of privilege designed to allow an elite minority to veto the popular will, often in the service of white supremacy. The Founders embodied a more deliberative upper chamber by not basing representation on a state's population. But the addition of a parliamentary maneuver to an already biased institution has produced prolonged political gridlock to the detriment of the union. The filibuster rule presently threatens the very existence of democratic government since one faction is ready to employ it to again restrict the voting franchise in its perceived favor.
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Self-aggrandizing holdouts have not justified, and cannot justify, jeopardizing democratic rule by indulging an opposition that harbors sedition. The filibuster is no longer a means of protecting minority representation, but is a means of protecting those who want to deny voting rights the Civil War was fought to enshrine. "Changing behaviors" in an institution where nearly half its members embrace a dangerously delusional demagogue is not a solution.
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credit: A. Telnaes, Washington Post
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I proclaim myself, King Donald!
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