Why the Filibuster is More Important Than Ever

The radical left – also known as the modern Democratic Party – is mounting a full court press to abolish the Senate filibuster.  And as always is the case, they are playing the race card.

It is true that Senate Democrats had used the filibuster to derail civil rights legislation.  They were successful until 1964, when an overwhelming Republican majority led by Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen overcame the Democrat filibuster and passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But … the filibuster has been used for a lot of issues over many years.

It is true that it is not written into the United States Constitution.  It evolved in the early 1800s to give some power to the Senate minority – to prevent what was called “the tyranny of majority.” 

Our nation has been based on a balanced concept of majority rights with minority protections.  Unfettered elitist rule – always claiming to represent the majority — is what you see in Russian, China, North Korea and Cuba.

The filibuster is particularly critical in times of great public and political division – such as we have today.  Both the Bible and President Lincoln addressed the perils of a “house divided.”  It cannot stand, said Lincoln.

That is because in such divided times, no political party has a mandate from we the people.  Winning an election does not automatically confer a mandate.  No matter one’s opinion about the outcome of the 2020 election, it is true that neither candidate nor party had a commanding percentage of the vote.  One way or the other, the margin of victory is insignificant in terms of a mandate or consensus. 

Democrats now control the levers of power in Washington, but half of America does not approve of their leadership.  Their aggressive left-wing agenda is more than the public wanted.  But Democrats can use their majority powers to impose laws and regulations. As long as they stay united in their pursuit of power.

It is a classic case of authoritarian elitism attempting to crush all political opposition.  And we see it all around us today with political correctness, identity politics, cancel culture and biased media being weaponized against all manner and all levels of political opposition.  It is in the pervasive demonizing of Republicans and especially conservatives.

The only safety valve for the rights and interests of half of America is the filibuster. It protects the millions of Americans who voted for President Trump and Republicans in all the lower offices.

If the Democrats had 60 seats in the Senate, they would not need any Republicans to pass legislation.  If they had 58 seats, they would only need two Republicans.  The fact that they need 10 Republicans suggests that the voters did not want to give Democrats a mandate – overwhelming power.  The narrower the political division, the more important it is to find consensus through negotiation.  And that is what the filibuster does.

It is a good thing that the most radical proposals cannot pass into law when there is such division between the people. And that they will have to find solutions by negotiating.  Sentiments to the contrary are dangerous to the health of a participatory Republic. For example, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ pre-election claim that if Democrats take control of Washington, they do not have to negotiate.  That is the voice of authoritarianism. She was right. 

We already see that happening in real time.  While Biden pays lip service to bipartisan cooperation, his approach to the Democrat’s radical agenda is to summarily reject good-faith negotiations.  The Democrats’ version of bipartisan negotiation is that they state their plans and proposals and Republicans rubber stamp them.

If Biden backs ending the filibuster, he will have lied to the voters during the campaign – and it is not a small flip-flop.

If the majority in the Senate cannot get 60 votes on a major piece of legislation, it probably should not pass.  The filibuster forces REAL negotiations and REAL compromise – and that is a good thing for the nation. 

So, there ‘tis.