Democrats Must Abolish the Filibuster
I have come to believe that the Democrats must abolish the filibuster. I have three reasons:
1. The American people have handed them a mandate. In the highest turnout election ever, the American people handed the Democrats control of the White House and the Senate, and allowed them to keep the House of Representatives. The Democrats campaigned on expansive Covid relief, raising the minimum wage, and a plethora of other things. The American people want them to deliver.
2. Republicans are acting in bad faith. In times past, the Republican party would recognize the Democratic mandate and respect the wishes of the American people by working with Democrats to implement popular policies, like a minimum wage increase or a public healthcare option. They might add some conservative tweaks here or there, but they would get the message and work to help and take their share of credit. However, today’s Tea Party, Trumpist Republican party is determined to act in bad faith and has been so for over a decade now. From Tea Party racism to McConnell’s pledge to make Obama a one-term president, Republican leadership has refuse to work with any Democrats on any initiatives, regardless of how popular they are. Better the country and their political opponents both fail than respect any sort of mandate, today’s GOP ethos goes. A minority acting in bad faith cannot be allowed to prevent the governing party from fulfilling its mandate. It is well within its rights to fight and argue in good faith, but bad faith actors cannot be allowed to win.
3. Republicans Must Lose at the Ballot Box for American Democracy to Survive. I have been saying for some time now that American democracy cannot co-exist with today’s iteration of the Republican party. Reflect on the events of the past three weeks. A mob of angry, violent extremists stormed the Capitol in an attempted coup led by the Republican president. A majority of the Republican House caucus voted against certifying the election results. Q-Anon adherents have won elections as Republicans. Ted Cruz claimed the chants of “hang Mike Pence” were taken out of context. Just today, the Oregon State Republican Party deemed the Capitol insurrection a “false flag” event intended to “discredit President Trump.” For Democracy to survive, these people cannot be allowed to hold power. The voters must reject them. The surest way to return the Republican party to power is for Democrats to fail to deliver any material benefits for the American people. If the Democrats fail to deliver their base may fail to turn out in 2022 and 2024. The right wing propaganda apparatus will inundate its viewers with cultural paranoia and rage, ensuring a healthy turnout of the Republican fringes. If Democrats want to save Democracy they must hold the House and Senate. It can be done, but not without delivering. And The Democrats cannot deliver if the filibuster remains.
Wariness over abolishing the filibuster is understandable. The Senate is a deliberative body, isn’t incentive to garner broad consensus a good thing. The answer, broadly speaking, is yes, this is a good thing. However, reducing the threshold to pass legislation from 60 votes to 51 does not remove incentive to create consensus. A purely partisan piece of legislation is liable to be overturned as soon as the next election happens, and everyone knows this. Bipartisan consensus will allow greater longevity of good policy. In today’s Senate, the Democrats also have incentive to court Republicans because of the ideological diversity of their coalition, which ranges from Joe Manchin to Bernie Sanders. Courting votes from Collins, Sasse, Murkowski, or whoever else would allow the Democratic caucus more wiggle room in the face of inevitable objections from their own members.
I believe now is the time for Democrats to abolish the filibuster. Maybe a day will come when it should be re-established, but for the sake of our country I believe that they abolish the procedure immediately.