GHook20
Platinum Member
You see how quick the filibuster becomes a thing of the past and how NON-moderate Manchin and Tester really are.What does it mean? Well, for starters it means the seats in the Senate would be split 50-50 and VP Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote. But what it really means is that the democrats could change our gov't forever if they have the votes to abolish the filibuster, which as you no doubt know means the majority party in the Senate could pass any bill with only a simple majority. The Senate currently requires 60 votes to stop the debate on a given bill, and you can't vote on any bill until that vote (called cloture) passes.
There is a reason for that requirement. The 60 votes for cloture is there to prevent what is called the "tyranny of the majority". It was feared that the minority party would have no say at all in the Senate, as it currently doesn't in the House. They can squawk all they want but they cannot do anything of substance in the House. Not so in the Senate, up to now at least; these days there is no appetite in either party to cooperate and compromise, it' all obstruction to politically hurt the majority and hopefully get them voted out of office in the next election. And it works too at least sometimes. Hence, no working together on just about anything.
There are 2 Senate seats up for grabs today; if the GOP takes one or both of them then the controversy is over and the filibuster lives for at least 2 more years. But if the democrats take both seats, well..
I believe that if the democrats take both seats they will abolish the filibuster in some way that tries to avoid looking like a power grab but fools no one. The intense pressure from their base will be too hard to ignore IMHO. And if that happens then compromise and cooperation will forever be gone. When one side does that, the other side will follow suit when they take over, and they eventually will. Maybe that will spur the rise of a 3rd political party that would require some kind of coalition; I think that would be a good thing with or without the filibuster. Otherwise, it's a one-party gov't if you can manage to control everything.