A Post-Filibuster World Would Be a Nightmare for Progressives

[Calista241]

With astonishing speed, it’s become conventional wisdom on the left that the filibuster must go.

Having seized full control of the White House and Congress — but just barely — many Democrats naturally see the Senate’s 60-vote threshold as an inconvenient obstacle to passing their agenda. They call it a “Jim Crow relic” for obstructing voting rights bills and hope to topple it like a Confederate statue.

But progressives pushing to end the filibuster are suffering from a bad case of amnesia. The past three decades, in fact, are filled with moments when the filibuster prevented Republicans from pushing through legislation that would have made America a far darker place.

The Democrats now in power should weigh the present opportunity against future peril. Republicans have their own ambitious agenda which they will be delighted to enact over the helpless cries of a filibuster-less Democratic minority as soon as they can. A tour of recent history offers some stark examples of what that might look like.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/14/post-filibuster-world-would-be-nightmare-for-progressives-481501

- more at link. Another reason to be cautious IMO.

[TheBlackAdder]

1. And, the next time Republicans are in power, what's stopping them from ending the filibuster?

[Crunchy Frog]

8. Oh, ya know. They have honor and principles 'n stuff. Right?

[lagomorph777]

10. Yeah, the options are (1) Schumer does it; we get shit done. (2) Turtle does it; America ends.

[people]

2. Filibuster

Yes, but republicans carve out exceptions to the filibuster every time they really wanted to push anything through - such as all those judges. They basically did whatever they wanted all the time. Democrats are the only ones who consistently respected and followed the filibuster rules.

[jimfields33]

5. Judges? Senator Reid got rid of the filibuster on judges.

Republicans then got rid of filibuster on Supreme Court.

[unblock]

3. flawed analysis. the problem is that if republicans ever get the trifecta again, we're toast.

the filibuster may indeed have served democrats well in the past, but it's because quite clear that it will not save us in the future.

had donnie gotten another term, what's left of our democracy would have been lost for decades at least.

donnie tried and other republicans tried to cheat the system by suppressing the vote, slowing the mail, and even attempting a coup.

it's all well and good to say the filibuster worked in the past, but really, it should be obvious that today's republicans are not the republicans of those earlier years. if they have the white house and the filibuster stands in their way, they would get rid of it themselves without a second thought. alternatively, they would find another way to get whatever they want, where through legal means or otherwise, because that is now how they operate.

in short, republicans now overtly do not respect either tradition, democratic norms, or rules. so there it is completely self-defeating to tie our own hands behind our backs out of respect for the tradition or the filibuster when all that does if give power to a party that will not return the favor.

[Calista241]

4. McConnell successfully told Trump to fuck off, and the filibuster stayed.

If they can stop Trump from forcing them to drop it, I don't think the Repubs have the political will to drop it at all. The other 50ish Repub Senators were happy to refrain from commenting on the filibuster and let McConnell take the blame and fury from Trump.

And, I think these same arguments for us to not drop it will apply to the Repubs. We. have the ACA today because of the filibuster. We have the IRS, Planned Parenthood funding, the EPA, and shitload of other stuff because the Repubs didn't flush the filibuster. They, on the other hand, have the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Courts because WE removed the filibuster requirement from nominees.

[unblock]

6. Mcturtle removed the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees

He only kept it for legislation because he could easily foresee the possibility that *he* would need it in the event democrats won the trifecta, as we did.

But today's republicans are completely opportunistic about it. They have no respect for democracy and the day they think they can continue to control enough of the government to no longer need the filibuster, they'll trash it.

But beyond that, they'll corrupt government and laws and institutions and norms to get their way, one way or another. If they leave the filibuster, it will only be because either they think they'll need it again (and it's really only needed by a party having 41-50 votes in the senate and an opposite-party president) or just to keep democrats from the full exercise of power.

The filibuster fundamentally hands power to a rejected minority it was always a bad idea, even if it sometimes had arguably good days.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. Once theyre in power again (practically guaranteed by the voter suppression laws

currently being enacted in swing states controlled by R legislatures) they'll get rid of it themselves the minute they think it will serve their interests.

Our only chance to head them off is by getting voting rights legislation passed before we get our asses handed to us in the 2022 midterms.

It's a calculated risk that I'm willing to take.

[heckles65]

9. I agree.

The idea that party hacks can override vote tallies will be the biggest of Drumpf's foul legacies. And then they'll lecture us on how "we're not a democracy we're a republic."

[lagomorph777]

11. "We're not a Republic; we're a theocracy"

Mentions of the Creator in the founding documents will be cited.