A Simple Choice: Enable Jim Crow or Kill the Filibuster
Democrats may have won the Presidency and the Senate, but they’re about to lose a shot at saving democracy for the future.
Come 2022, Republicans have a better than even chance of flipping both houses of Congress, not because they’ll get the most votes for their candidates (they won’t), but because the deck will be stacked against Democrats.
Using the Big Lie pushed by the former occupant of the White House as their justification, at least 253 pieces of legislation with provisions restricting voter access have been introduced, pre-filed, or carried over in 43 states, mostly by Republicans, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice.
https://twitter.com/Impolitics/status/1366508565767147523?s=20
The Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting. Although the cases being heard by the justices involve Arizona restrictions on voting, observers believe there’s a good chance a ruling will involve striking down Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
This will give Republicans an easy path toward enacting new voting restrictions that do not explicitly mention race but in practice disenfranchise voters of color more than white people. It won’t be enough for those unable to vote to claim discrimination; they’ll have to prove their lack of agency would affect the outcome of elections.
From Mother Jones:
A brief by from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, which was written by Donald Trump’s lawyer William Consovoy, claims that a discriminatory voting law can only be struck down “when it causes a substantial disparity in opportunities for members of a protected class to participate in the political process and affect electoral outcomes,” which would be an extremely high bar for voters of color to clear before conservative-dominated courts.
And 11 Republican senators, including McConnell, Cruz, and Tom Cotton, have asked the court to strike down Section 2 altogether. “The Ninth Circuit’s sweeping interpretation of VRA Section 2,” they write, “would also render the statute unconstitutional.”
https://twitter.com/Brendajurgens3/status/1366547351490428929?s=20
Georgia's GOP-controlled House just passed #HB531 by a 97-72 vote. Among other voting restrictions, HB531 would limit location & hours of drop boxes, reduce early weekend voting, and prohibit giving food/drink to voters waiting in line.
Making people wait in line for hours because the number of voting locations has been reduced and denying them sustenance is supposed to be a step toward ‘cleaning’ up elections in Republican parlance.
While voting by mail has been a lynchpin of GQP voter turnout efforts in recent years, now it’s a problem.
From NPR:
Even as Trump was attempting to overturn the election last year, his allies said they would use his false claims to shape future elections.
"Mail-in balloting is a nightmare for us," Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Nov. 8, referring to a form of voting that had been used securely with little controversy for years but was used more often by Democrats in 2020. Graham said that without changes, "we're never going to win again presidentially."
Appearing again on Fox News on Nov. 9, Graham said Senate Republicans would conduct "oversight" of mail-in balloting because "if we don't do something about voting by mail, we're going to lose the ability to elect a Republican in this country."
It certainly appears that Republicans have taken a page from the electoral playbook used in the Soviet Union back in the day, where leaders chose the voters rather than the other way around.
***
There is hope on the horizon, but Democrats are going to have to be brave to save the day.
The House of Representatives will soon vote on the House will vote on the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S.1), legislation touted by its boosters as the greatest civil rights bill since the civil rights movement itself.
The bill’s practical reforms include:
two weeks of early voting
restoration of the vote to all formerly incarcerated citizens
allowing people who lack photo ID to vote with sworn affidavits of their identity.
a small-donor matching system, matching small donations of $200 or less at a six-to-one ratio, funded through a surcharge on corporate lawbreakers.
critical congressional redistricting reforms promoting fair representation.
Also on deck is the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which fixes what the Supreme Court said was wrong with the Voting Rights Act via:
a new coverage formula that looks at more modern issues of discrimination.
a provision that looks at particular practices that have been trouble in the past and sets forth criteria for which those practices are subject to preclearance.
procedures for states or jurisdictions to show that preclearance does not make sense any more for them.
guidelines for federal observers, so voters can get support from the federal government if there are problems on the ground.
Both of the bills will make it through the House of Representatives. Neither bill has a chance of getting 60 votes in the Senate.
So the Democratic leadership has a choice to make; either find a way around the filibuster or concede future elections to a party bent on undermining democracy.
Here’s the breakdown on what it will take, via Indivisible:
The filibuster makes the country ungovernable, according to Barack Obama. Reforming the filibuster is not a radical idea held by fringe leftists. In 2018, Barack Obama argued that the filibuster has got to go. Reflecting on his own presidency, Obama said, “Adding the filibuster … has made it almost impossible for us to effectively govern at a time when you have at least one party that is not willing to compromise on issues.”
In 2020, Obama again called to eliminate the filibuster, calling it a “Jim Crow relic.” Obama is far from alone. A host of liberals, centrists, and even one or two conservatives have noted the incredible political dysfunction fostered by the filibuster.
Eliminating the filibuster is simple. All it takes to eliminate the filibuster is a simple majority vote in the Senate — and this can be done at any time. Senate Democrats can introduce a big package of democracy reforms, like DC statehood and expanding voting rights. Mitch McConnell, the self-proclaimed “grim reaper” of progressive legislation, then initiates a filibuster. Democrats can then hold a vote, and with just 50 votes eliminate the filibuster and prevent McConnell from vetoing the legislation.
This is a sample scenario of how it would work:
The Democratically-controlled House of Representatives passes and sends to the Senate H.R.1, a landmark pro-democracy bill that puts political power back in the hands of the American public.
The Democratically-controlled Senate attempts to pass H.R. 1 and send it to the Democratic President for signature. But because Democrats don’t have 60 votes in the Senate, their efforts are blocked by Mitch McConnell who has vowed to kill all progressive legislation.
Democrats face a choice: either accept congressional gridlock where none of their priorities get done, or do away with the filibuster in order to pass their priorities with a simple majority.
Senate Democrats choose democracy and try again to pass H.R.1, but this time vote to eliminate the filibuster to prevent McConnell from blocking it. H.R.1 passes with a simple majority and sends it to the Democratic President for signature.
McConnell calls it an undemocratic power grab, but Democracy is saved and Democrats can move on to other priorities, like health care and climate legislation.
We get to win on other priorities, like health care and climate legislation.
Getting the Senate to embrace this scenario won’t happen without unrelenting pressure from voters. So prepare yourself: we’re gonna have some texting and phone calls to make.
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