Not surprisingly, the word “filibuster” does not appear in the US Constitution. There is no “Senate Has to Have One” clause. The filibuster is for all intents and purposes an internal Senate rule of procedure that has been put in place to assist the Senate in furthering its Constitutional task to help draft effective legislation on behalf of the We, the People and in a democracy, that proper deference is given to the party in power as they represent the will of the majority.
Today, under the sinister eye of Mitch “I Never Met a Dark Money Campaign Donation I Didn’t Like” Pork Pot McConnell the filibuster does neither and so, and in fact is strangling the basic democratic process and, it has to go. Not necessarily in its entirety, mind you, but the idea that one senator can silently block legislation for an unspecified amount of time?
That must become gone with the wind along with all the “heroic” rhetoric, past racist relics, Strom Thurmond’s longest of all time marathon at 24-hour filibuster 1957 defense for maintaining Jim Crow racially charged and clearly bigoted separatist policies immediately comes to mind, and continuing baggage currently turning the Senate from what was once the world’s most respected deliberative bodies into a graveyard where all good ideas and legislation go to die.
Although I do admit it is strangely satisfying to watch our thoroughly rattled and obviously scared former Senate Majority Leader and now Minority Leader as in who cares what you say, squeal like a stuck pig as he searches for a magical “restore my relevance and virility” truffles that alas, does not exist except within legend of swine herds and crooked, mostly aging politicians who would do everything in their power to keep the dark money flowing.
Was it surprising to anyone watching that Moscow Mitch’s oligarch funded aluminum plant promising to bring jobs and prosperity to the good people of Kentucky fell through and as we know now, pretty much a long-shot “based on the acquisition of future capital” money laundering scheme where all the “initial investment funds” ended up in the political black hole in Mitch’s back pocket to be distributed to the many Senators under his control?
You know, Republicans? Maybe a democrat or two? In this day and age of openly blatant and rampant corruption as a way of life for your modern Senator, who knows?
How is it the Senate, a body created by the Founding Fathers to assure the various States as separate sovereigns had proper representation in the Federal government ended up as an anti-legislation opposed to anything that might upset their carefully cultivated catacombs of dark, anonymous money flowing into their personal don’t forget about our skim off the top first coffers?
How did virtually all legislation except tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, and hence those who need it the least become part and parcel of the American Dream? How did the role of the Senate become maintaining the “status quo” originally started in the mid-1800s with all other legislation being part of a “socialist wish list” or flat out left-wing fantasy?
That somehow the Senate, in its infinite wisdom knows what is best for us as a country is to enshrine and embrace racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, and whenever possible, discrimination against POC in the form of voter suppression is what made us “great” and was what we as “real” Americans, must never challenge, never alter, never to use their favorite word cancel, lest we risk losing all the benefits that white privilege has to offer?
Including institutionalized bribery by so-called lobbyists, hiding what we used to call illegal, criminal conduct by criminals seeking unfair influence and political advantage to the expense of those of little to no let’s call it “disposable income” to spare. You know, the majority, most of us.
If I had to choose one symbol for the now unfortunately entrenched in our political system of greed plus a good dose of power for power’s sake thrown in, all swirled with an all stick and no carrot mentality because helping the middle class never made America great, did it? It would be the NRA. Virtually broke and bereft of power as their current situation may be, they are still with us and continue to cast a dark, smothering and insidious pall over the nation.
Now we know the NRA was nothing more than a whatever is best for the gun manufacturers, elaborate Russian mobster money laundering scheme to keep the rubles flowing into the American election process to keep in power those who would and this is not hyperbole, contort the 2nd Amendment in such a way that the right to own an assault rifle is more “American” than the right to protect our children at schools, churches, malls, movie theaters, and even grocery stores across the nation.
And all this, the rich getting richer, the right wing fully armed and in insurrection mode, the religious trying to deny the religious and/or societal rights of their fellow citizens on grounds of nothing more than blatant religious intolerance and always, tell me if I’m wrong, somehow in the benefit of their own self-interest and prosperity?
Does it strike anyone conscious that the guy who owns Hobby Lobby, you know the business that denies contraception and other women’s related health services to, you guessed it, women, in the name of “religious freedom” is also the same company where Mr. Hobby Lobby’s wife claimed to communicate directly with God with our Lord, or, at least their Lord, hard to tell these days, told her to remain open for business despite any and all precautions that should be taken due to the Corona virus?
Once again, proving to this sordid bunch of religious and gun nut wacko crazies, that death, dying and disease is an acceptable cost of doing business, to sell scrap books and to promote “family values” by selling stuff that families can do together, even those who lost loved ones at Columbine, Aurora, Parkland (these are just the schools) and yes, Sandy Hook. All under the guise of promoting the family. Sickening, isn’t it?
And so, we find ourselves as Americans in a true crisis of twisted morals, false idolatry and unrealistic religious based conspiracy theories where we must arm ourselves with AK-15s and weapons that are used not for protection, but to hunt each other while waiting for the End of Days when all of the white people will magically float up to heaven while heavily armed, to become arch angels or some other violent variant thereof to continue the “good fight” on behalf of God and his “righteous vengeance” that somehow is only applied to POC who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, often meaning that even their very existence is of sectarian magnitude and cause for alarm so severe, that minorities can be killed at any place, at any time, and often by those who are sworn to protect them and their families, including their children.
If you don’t believe me, wise up for this is what has taken the place of “family values” in America. Domestic terrorists are not defenders of democracy or liberty, or freedom. They are nothing more than dogs on the end of a very short leash to be released if and when necessary to promote the continuation of the myth that there is not one, but two Americas, and that only one is real. The white, religious one, and everybody else, the “false” one who under no circumstance can be allowed to vote for they’re are not truly in the eyes of God no less, Americans.
Now we have a chance to get back to the real issues and accomplishments that define what it is to be not only an American, but a true patriot many of who the right call Antifa, as if being anti-fascist was a bad thing. Together, We, the People can end the Covid-19 pandemic and at the same time fix the economy, create good paying jobs while we build back better.
We can save lives, innocent lives by legislating waiting periods and proper background checks for gun ownership. Ban assault weapons of war on our main streets, and don’t be fooled, the “bad guys” won’t have them either, and begin to end the cycle of mass murders by keeping arms out of arms that were never meant to bear, except possibly as part of a well-regulated militia, and even then, that proposition as a Constitutional mandate is up for grabs.
No fly lists for both foreign and domestic terrorists will keep the average citizen who wants nothing more than to be able to walk out on a sunny day, to school, to shop and to interact with their fellow Americans free from having to wonder whether they are carrying a concealed weapon or not. As for open carry? The choice of cowards who don’t even feel safe going to their neighborhood grocery stores unless they are armed?
Don’t get me started with the right to intimidate as a legitimate form of self-defense and the defense of others, or of property, or whatever happens to scare you, apparently virtually everything at the time, including Asian women, as an “absolute” God given right under the Declaration of Independence as Constitutionally protected by the 2nd Amendment. Regulate this, bitch.
Or, we could stick with the filibuster so Mitch the evil and reptilian, amphibian from hell can keep killing off all of our efforts to change back into a sane society so he and his heinous lacking in any empathy for their fellow Americans what-so-ever can keep taking blood money so corporations can keep polluting our water and our air if necessary (another casualty of the culture wars) for no other reason but to maintain power, so the money, like heroin to an addict can flow. Clear?
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