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Do Americans still have the courage of democracy? In light of recent events in Washington, it must be said that this is doubtful.
Last week, the Senate voted 54-35 to establish an independent commission to investigate the seditious storming of the United States Capitol on January 6 – the most violent attack since the War of 1812. The House had previously approved measure 252-175.
If the Senate vote was a football score, you would qualify a 19-point victory as a decisive one. And yet the measure did not survive Republican obstruction, a quaint Senate rule requiring a qualified majority of 60 votes to become law.
Created during racial segregation and used for decades to block civil rights reforms, the filibuster is nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution. It is neither a law nor a Supreme Court decision. It is simply a custom of the Senate – and blatantly undemocratic – that could be eliminated tomorrow by a simple majority vote.
The Senate is a conservative institution by definition. It gives much more power and influence to small rural states than to the large metropolitan states where most people live. The citizens of Wyoming, at 579,000, for example, have about 70 times more influence in the United States Senate than the citizens of California, 39.5 million.
Only major constitutional surgery can change that, so it will never happen. No need to even talk about it.
Add filibuster, however, and that’s a recipe for legislative paralysis: namely, a government that refuses to defend itself against a violent insurgency because it could hurt the feelings of Citizen Trump.
Or could put Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., In a tough spot. Not to mention Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. These two heroes spoke decisively in the aftermath of the January coup attempt, but now the tide has turned and they are busy clearing the blanket.
“If you can’t convince a Republican to support a non-partisan analysis of why the Capitol was first attacked since the War of 1812, then what are you hoping for?” asks Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va.
What, indeed?
Former Obama White House aide David Plouffe put it even more bluntly on Twitter: “Democracy to die so obstruction can live would seem like a terrible way to end this experiment.”
Polls have shown Americans support the establishment of a commission on Jan. 6 from 56% to 30% – a clear majority. Even 28% of Republicans would be interested in knowing, for example, how many of those “visits” given by right-wing members of Congress on Jan. 5 included recognition before the riots. Or who gave the order to “retreat” preventing the National Guard from arriving on time, and why.
How organized was the conspiracy that resulted in Proud Boys in uniform running through the halls of Congress chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” While the vice president’s security team pushed him into hiding?
Did the Proud Boys hide it from their buddy Roger Stone? Did he forget to tell his buddy Donald J. Trump?
Curious minds want to know.
Republicans in the Senate, not so much.
Look, under the current circumstances, 54-35 equates to a thunderous majority. Systematic obstruction, however, is tantamount to doing nothing and political cowardice.
Indeed, filibuster is arguably more responsible than anything else for the disdain with which most Americans view Congress’ congenital inability to act. This is certainly how Senator Edward Markey, D-Mass., Sees it.
“If they block the Jan. 6 commission, we will have to abolish the filibuster,” Markey told the Washington Post. “If Republicans block climate action, we will need to abolish filibuster. If Republicans block the franchise, we will need to abolish filibuster. If Republicans block gun control legislation, we will will have to abolish filibuster. So I think he just continues to move towards the inevitability of the inevitable need to repeal filibuster. “
And yet, preserving filibuster is apparently more important to some “moderate” Democrats – especially Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. – that all of these things. You see, another thing the filibuster does is improve the power and visibility of individual senators – one of the reasons President Joe Biden, a 30-year Senate veteran, is himself hesitant. about abolition.
The argument is that the 60-vote Senate requirement somehow promotes bipartisanship, although no one ever says how. Most of the time, this now promotes Manchin’s televised knock-offs of Maine GOP Senator Susan Collins – regularly regretting this and lamenting that, before quietly lining up. (In fairness, Manchin and Collins both voted for the Jan.6 commission.)
The day after the vote to end filibustering, Manchin would again be just another of 50 Democratic senators. So there is that.
Others argue that if Republicans took back the Senate in 2022, Democrats might regret it. Maybe, although someone thinks the GOP won’t give up on the rule whenever it is practical?
For the foreseeable future, there is no chance that either party will get a majority of 60 votes. The choice is between majority rule and paralysis.
Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of “The Hunting of the President” (St. Martin’s Press, 2000). You can email Lyon at [email protected].
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