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Why the Filibuster is More Important Than Ever

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The radical left – also known as the modern Democratic Party – is mounting a full court press to abolish the Senate filibuster&period;&nbsp&semi; And as always is the case&comma; they are playing the race card&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It is true that Senate Democrats had used the filibuster to derail civil rights legislation&period;&nbsp&semi; They were successful until 1964&comma; when an overwhelming Republican majority led by Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen overcame the Democrat filibuster and passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">But … the filibuster has been used for a lot of issues over many years&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It is true that it is not written into the United States Constitution&period;  It evolved in the early 1800s to give some power to the Senate minority – to prevent what was called &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the tyranny of majority&period;”  <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Our nation has been based on a balanced concept of majority rights with minority protections&period;  Unfettered elitist rule – always claiming to represent the majority &&num;8212&semi; is what you see in Russian&comma; China&comma; North Korea and Cuba&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The filibuster is particularly critical in times of great public and political division – such as we have today&period;&nbsp&semi; Both the Bible and President Lincoln addressed the perils of a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;house divided&period;”&nbsp&semi; It cannot stand&comma; said Lincoln&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">That is because in such divided times&comma; no political party has a mandate from we the people&period;&nbsp&semi; Winning an election does not automatically confer a mandate&period;&nbsp&semi; No matter one’s opinion about the outcome of the 2020 election&comma; it is true that neither candidate nor party had a commanding percentage of the vote&period;&nbsp&semi; One way or the other&comma; the margin of victory is insignificant in terms of a mandate or consensus&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Democrats now control the levers of power in Washington&comma; but half of America does not approve of their leadership&period;  Their <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchingbagpost&period;com&sol;will-democrats-take-away-our-guns&sol;">aggressive left-wing agenda<&sol;a> is more than the public wanted&period;  But Democrats can use their majority powers to impose laws and regulations&period; As long as they stay united in their pursuit of power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It is a classic case of authoritarian elitism attempting to crush all political opposition&period;  And we see it all around us today with political correctness&comma; identity politics&comma; cancel culture and biased media being weaponized against all manner and all levels of political opposition&period;  It is in the pervasive demonizing of Republicans and especially conservatives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">The only safety valve for the rights and interests of half of America is the filibuster&period; It protects the millions of Americans who voted for President Trump and Republicans in all the lower offices&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">If the Democrats had 60 seats in the Senate&comma; they would not need any Republicans to pass legislation&period;  If they had 58 seats&comma; they would only need two Republicans&period;  The fact that they need 10 Republicans suggests that the voters did not want to give Democrats a mandate – overwhelming power&period;  The narrower the political division&comma; the more important it is to find consensus through negotiation&period;  And that is what the filibuster does&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It is a good thing that the most radical proposals cannot pass into law when there is such division between the people&period; And that they will have to find solutions by negotiating&period;  Sentiments to the contrary are dangerous to the health of a participatory Republic&period; For example&comma; Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ pre-election claim that if Democrats take control of Washington&comma; they do not have to negotiate&period;  That is the voice of authoritarianism&period; She was right&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">We already see that happening in real time&period; &nbsp&semi;While Biden pays lip service to bipartisan cooperation&comma; his approach to the Democrat’s radical agenda is to summarily reject good-faith negotiations&period;&nbsp&semi; The Democrats’ version of bipartisan negotiation is that they state their plans and proposals and Republicans rubber stamp them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">If Biden backs ending the filibuster&comma; he will have lied to the voters during the campaign – and it is not a small flip-flop&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">If the majority in the Senate cannot get 60 votes on a major piece of legislation&comma; it probably should not pass&period;  The filibuster forces REAL negotiations and REAL compromise – and that is a good thing for the nation&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">So&comma; there &OpenCurlyQuote;tis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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