This is one of the most dangerous times in the history of this nation’s democracy. This country and government are beset with a myriad of extremely serious problems but in the U.S. Senate of today, there is a dearth of problem solvers.
The American people are struggling to cope with these problems and they want action by these senators who possess the power to deal with them. But, nothing of substance is being done, the Senate is in a state of paralysis, stuck in a rut. Think of this situation as “East (Democrats) is East and West (Republicans) is West, and never the twain shall meet.”
And the worst thing of all is that\ our democracy is now under attack by one of the political parties that is supposed to do its share of the problem-solving, the Republicans., aka, the hostiles These Republicans, still controlled by the disgraced, highly dangerous former president, Trump, have made it clear that they intend to do whatever it takes to replace our democracy with an autocratic government.
Right now the number one threat to our democracy, voter suppression, is being carried out in many states across this country. President Biden needs to pull out all of the stops, use every resource at his disposal to attack this problem. He is going about it in the old-fashioned way, that is, trying to use bipartisan legislation and that is like trying to convince a Republican to vote to increase taxes on the rich; it’s not going to work.
It’s time to suppress the Republican suppressors, time o think outside the box,
Mr. Biden: Don’t you understand that this country and this government are no longer operating in the Old Normal but, rather, the New Normal? You can’t conduct your presidency like the presidents of the past did, that no longer works, not in the America of today.
Democratic Senator Manchin is blocking the Voting Rights Act and refusing to side with those who believe that the filibuster must go, Mitch McConnell is using the filibuster to block your agenda, and the Republicans in states across the country are creating legislation that will adversely impact millions of Democratic voters when they attempt to cast their ballots.
Trump has planted a poisonous disease, the quest for total power and control, into the body of the Republican Party and it is now metastasizing. Republicans see our democracy as an impediment to their objective of taking control over this country, so they are determined to take it down.
The U.S. Senate, with 50 Democratic senators and 50 Republicans, is supposedly controlled by the Democrat Party because, when there is a tie vote on any legislation, Vice President Kamala Harris will cast the deciding vote. But when that legislation is subject to a filibuster, the VP’s tiebreaker means nothing. Therefore, while Democrats would seem to be in control they are not.
Manchin mistakenly thinks he works only for the people of West Virginia – WRONG! He works for all the people of this country who pay his salary. Wake up Joe, you’re living on a different planet, you need to come back to Earth.
Why is Biden wasting time on trying to use bipartisanship with Mitch McConnell when that Obstructionist in Chief doesn’t even know what the word means. The only words Mitch knows are no, absolutely not, never, no way, and just forget it.
President Biden’s, top priorities are Covid-19 as it should be; followed by the economy, racism, and climate change. However, after the pandemic, his top priority must be, has to be, the preservation of our democracy. Voting rights have to be right up there with Covid.
Why waste a lot of time trying to do the impossible. With Manchin “calling the shots” relative to the filibuster, the Voting Rights Act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the chances of passage of legislation to stop GOP suppression is somewhere between zero and none.
So, don’t keep butting your head against the wall. It’s time to think outside the box. Legislation to fight suppression is most certainly not the only way to go.
Here are a couple of alternate strategies for Biden and Democrats to use. As soon as suppression legislation is passed by Republicans in any state have lawyers immediately challenge its Constitutionality in the Courts. It’s possible that many of those suppression tactics can be thrown out.
Next, have hundreds of Democratic representatives hit the road at appropriate times, well ahead of the upcoming elections in all of these specific states. Thoroughly educate all of the people who have been made targets of the GOP voter suppression process. Explain to them just how very dangerous this is to this country’s democracy and what they need to do.
Inform them as to what an authoritarian, or autocratic government is and what will happen to this country and its already very fragile democracy if this kind of government takes control. Stress the fact that they are the targets and make them very, very angry so they go after these suppressors hammer and tong.
Talk about each one of the suppression tactics, such as the locations and number of ballot drop boxes, new, very strict voter ID requirements, limiting mail-in-ballots, and even prohibiting giving people standing in line water or food.
Thoroughly educate these target voters on how to deal with all of these suppression tactics so they will be more than ready to vote properly during upcoming elections. Fight fire with fire. If this strategy is successful then Democrats will defeat this massive suppression effort and win handily, because likely Democratic voters across America outnumber Republicans by 12 million.
One more tip on getting legislation passed: use the Budget Reconciliation process as much as possible to avoid the filibuster. This special type of legislation is to be used for tax and spending matters and only two of them can be used in a given year, so it should be used wisely; for infrastructure and the economy.
Many presidents use catchy slogans to have their primary objective stand out for all to see. Remember Trump’s MAGA, “Make America great again?” In the case of Biden let’s make that slogan LSTS, or, “Let’s suppress the suppressors.”
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