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The Filibuster - Kill It for the Good of Democracy

The Senate has never been particularly sacred. Sanctimonious, perhaps. It has always been an anti-democratic institution designed to protect the interests of political minorities. There is some value in that concept, but the design of the Senate was a major contributor in perpetuating slavery and Jim Crow, to name just two major examples, long before the modern filibuster was invented.

I think Manchin is on the right track. If the political minority really feels like an unjust law is being rammed through by the majority, they can stand up and talk about it as long as they can maintain the 41 votes. We'll see how much party discipline Mitch is able to hold in that scenario. I think he will find that some purple state senators are not going to be too eager to support filibusters that cut against the wishes of large majorities of their constituencies.

The trick is for the Dems to go big on important legislation, while not overreaching, and while maintaining their own effective PR on the bills. It's easier for Pubs to rail on about "government overreach" when Dems put up giant omnibus bills that are stuffed with tangential wish list items. Better to go with easy to understand legislation and voting rights is the best current example.
 
Level of effort required to create and maintain a filibuster is greatly below that required to break it. Particularly with the elimination of the need to keep talking.
 
The burden should be on the opposition to maintain 2/5 of the body who are unwilling to vote on a bill.
 
Agree that its a waste of time. The GQP is largely acting in bad faith so they can claim they tried. With i had faith the electorate would see through this act.
 
Manchin says there is ‘no circumstance’ where he would vote to get rid of or ‘weaken’ the filibuster in blow to Biden agenda

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III said Wednesday that under no circumstances would he vote to eliminate or weaken the legislative filibuster in his most definitive statement yet on the topic, dealing a blow to Democrats’ hopes of pushing major aspects of President Biden’s agenda through Congress.

The West Virginia senator also suggested in an op-ed published in The Washington Post that he would be opposed to using the budget reconciliation process, under which certain legislation requires only a majority vote, again to circumvent the filibuster, an avenue Senate Democrats have considered for passing Biden’s ambitious infrastructure package.

“There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” Manchin wrote. “The time has come to end these political games, and to usher a new era of bipartisanship where we find common ground on the major policy debates facing our nation.”...


Actual Manchin piece here: Opinion: Joe Manchin: I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster


Sooo....what’s he going to do to get some Republican cooperation for needed and important shit....?


Not a damn thing, because they aren’t capable of reasonable cooperation or decent governing.
 
He seems really naive but it’s impossible to be that naive. Republicans have no real policy aims except tax cuts and judges and staying in power. There’s no room for compromise there.

He’s arguing that unless 20% of people who have no interest in working with Democrats sign on, he can’t do what he wants to do.

Schumer needs to tell him to go find those 10 votes and come back when he’s got them.
 
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Manchin better pray Dems don't add seats in 22. If they do and he's not needed, he's done with having any power.
 
Manchin says killing the filibuster will kill democracy.

Gotta get more Dems in the senate, I guess, in order to get good shit done.
 
Manchin says killing the filibuster will kill democracy.

Gotta get more Dems in the senate, I guess, in order to get good shit done.

Manchin is such a piece of shit and arguing with the same bad faith basis as republicans. He likes being the most powerful man in the Senate and he doesn't want to give that up. The other factor is this fake bipartisan mantra he can pretend to sell, but it's really about he doesn't want to have to take hard votes and actually make decisions on policy either because he wants to keep his seat and power.

You wouldn't even have to get rid of the filibuster completely if you actually cared about forcing debate and some type of compromise. But clearly a reform to something like 40 votes to maintain a filibuster which forces republicans to constantly be in town on the floor or going back to forcing the talking filibuster are legitimate changes.

Maybe I'm not a sociopath like politicians, but if i'm worth $10 million + like Manchin, I'm not worried about power and more accumulation of money and I'd be willing to vote my conscience.
 
Manchin is such a piece of shit and arguing with the same bad faith basis as republicans. He likes being the most powerful man in the Senate and he doesn't want to give that up. The other factor is this fake bipartisan mantra he can pretend to sell, but it's really about he doesn't want to have to take hard votes and actually make decisions on policy either because he wants to keep his seat and power.

You wouldn't even have to get rid of the filibuster completely if you actually cared about forcing debate and some type of compromise. But clearly a reform to something like 40 votes to maintain a filibuster which forces republicans to constantly be in town on the floor or going back to forcing the talking filibuster are legitimate changes.

Maybe I'm not a sociopath like politicians, but if i'm worth $10 million + like Manchin, I'm not worried about power and more accumulation of money and I'd be willing to vote my conscience.

Agreed on Manchin, but it's not all on him. Kyrsten Sinema also bears her share of the blame here too. I had high hopes for her when she was elected, but she's turned into a big disappointment.

 
Agreed on Manchin, but it's not all on him. Kyrsten Sinema also bears her share of the blame here too. I had high hopes for her when she was elected, but she's turned into a big disappointment.


I'm not sure what Sinema's game really is. Didn't she previously used to be a Green party candidate and considered really far left liberal?

The only thing I can think is that she's decided she needs to pursue some pseudo, John McCain "Maverick", image to continue being elected in Arizona.
 
Yeah. She turned conservative when she got elected to the House.
 
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