“Calling all political cat herders! Report to the Senate Majority Leader’s office immediately!”
Admittedly I don’t even know if there’s a public address system in the United States Capitol building, but if there is, “Chucky” Schumer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President (still hurts to say it) Joe Biden must be frantically pushing buttons and turning nobs to try and work the thing. Otherwise, their collective dreams of completely transforming American culture and government might disappear right before their narrow, aged eyes. Arizona Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced earlier this week that she doesn’t favor ditching the senate’s filibuster tradition for legislation, which could put a serious damper on the leadership’s ambitious schemes to blow up the federal statute book in the blink-of-an-eye. It’s often said that individuals who are drowning see their life flash before their eyes; if that’s the case, then practically every Democrat in Washington must now be gasping like it’s their last breath. There are just so many loony leftist fantasies within arm’s reach of realization should the majority party only need fifty senators (plus Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking assent) to pass stuff! How about permanently altering the way Americans vote (H.R. 1)! The Green New Deal! Medicare for All! Eliminating Free Speech! Criminalizing dissent! Banning gun ownership! Then there’s oppressive taxation of citizens deemed “wealthy”! And Open Borders forever! Amnesty for illegal aliens! Declaring Cinco de Mayo a national holiday?! Well, maybe not that one. Also within the realm of possibility would be two more new liberal states (The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), and hence, four more government-power-loving Democrat senators)! A packed Supreme Court! Much, much more! Fear not, even with the filibuster in place, Democrats will still push through plenty of damaging, life-destroying policies (see: Executive Orders, Joe Biden), but with the GOP minority still holding some sway over what ultimately gets voted on in Congress, it won’t be as easy for the new rulers to steamroll any and all opposition. Emily Brooks reported at The Washington Examiner:
“Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s firm filibuster stance has made her a bete noire of the Democratic Party's vocal Left wing. “Sinema’s office told the Washington Post on Monday that she is ‘against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind.’ “That stance flies in the face of the growing movement to do away with the legislative tool that effectively prevents the passage of legislation without support from 60 senators. In the 50-50 divided Senate, Democrats have the majority due to Vice President Kamala Harris's tiebreaking vote. But the filibuster rule means 10 Republicans are necessary to join with Democrats to pass legislation.”
Oh, the anguish! The weeping and gnashing of teeth (too biblical?)! Democrats will be subject to the agenda stalling rules they’ve hidden behind for years. It’s the same filibuster that the anointed one, Barack Obama, said was a “relic of Jim Crow” at the late Rep. John Lewis’s funeral last year. Tasteful guy, isn’t he?
Nevertheless, Sinema’s public spat with the entire Democrat Party is surprising. Perhaps it’s something in the water out in the Grand Canyon State, because the 44-year-old’s leadership -defying stance appears suspiciously similar to the publicity inducing tactics of another media attention-grabbing senator from Arizona who used to (still does???) haunt the halls of the upper chamber.
The late John McCain was skilled at angering conservatives and establishmentarians alike by siding with Democrats and a few other RINOs on a number of issues to squelch GOP momentum and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. McCain’s closing act was three years ago during the Republicans’ push to get something done on Obamacare during President Trump’s first year.
At the time, the terminally ill McCain delivered an impassioned floor speech calling for a return to “regular order” to move legislation the old-fashioned way, through the committee process complete with markups and amendments, etc. It was a nice thought, wasn’t it? If only the upper chamber members from both parties could meet collegially and shape simple bills like they do in a high school student council civics simulation session. It doesn’t work that way in reality when you’ve got self-interested parliamentarians like Tom Daschle, Harry Reid and now “Chucky” Schumer calling the shots and setting the calendar.
Democrats have leftist donors and activists to satiate and feed. Besides, that compromise stuff is so 20th century, isn’t it?
It certainly could be that Sinema is bidding to fill the vacant Democrat “moderate” position in the senate (only partially occupied by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who’s also indicated he wouldn’t agree to ditch the filibuster). Granted it’s been a long time since any true liberal stepped forward to do something “principled” when he or she is staring hundreds of dedicated revolutionaries with fangs exposed in the face. But theoretically, it could happen.
If it were a Republican in Sinema’s lonely position, the media would commend the person for his or her willingness to stand on their beliefs above political pressure. It’s highly doubtful Sinema will engender such fleeting and bound-to-be temporary adulation, however. These people recognize that their window for forcing socialism down the country’s throat is remarkably short. While it’s true that little depends on Grampa Joe Biden’s health and mental capacity holding up (with Kamala Harris waiting impatiently in the wings to elbow him out of the picture), the country can only be fooled for so long.
Forecasting the future is always challenging but here’s thinking Sinema -- and Manchin if he joins her -- will face relentless pressure from Democrat honchos (such as Biden, Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton and the entire evening line-up at MSNBC and CNN, among others) to move off her stance. Schumer will threaten to pull her committee assignments. Donors will tear up their checks. The gals on “The View” will rescind an invitation to be on their show. Social media will explode and Black Lives Matter will publish her home address. The politically correct crowd will say her “silence is violence.”
Kamala Harris will be interviewed on 60 Minutes and pinpoint Sinema as the reason why Grampa Joe and herself can’t get anything done. If the elites get desperate enough, they might even blame further China virus deaths on the filibuster and certain individuals’ insistence on maintaining it.
These are Democrats we’re talking about. Any resistance to their plans is viewed as treason and sedition. Donald Trump is no longer around to flog to the brink of death, so new “enemies” must be identified. And a potential Democrat traitor must be muffled, or someone else might grow a spine. And we can’t have that, can we?
filibuster
Kyrsten Sinema
Chuck Schumer
Kamala Harris
Joe Biden
Democrat agenda
Mitch McConnell
congressional majority
climate change
Medicare for All