To Jam Through Unpopular Climate Legislation The Filibuster Must Be Destroyed Or Something

See, if the Cult of Climastrology can’t convince people to approve of their radical Big Government plans, they’ll just force it through

Ambitious Climate Plans Might Need a Radical Legislative One: Ending the Filibuster

Democrats running for president are promoting historically ambitious plans to fight climate change.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. wants to put a price on greenhouse emissions with the aim of eliminating the United States’ net planet-warming pollution by 2050. Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas has proposed spending $5 trillion to promote clean energy and to help communities adapt to global warming. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington has centered his entire campaign on addressing climate change, with policies designed to eventually freeze the nation’s fossil fuel production entirely. Tom Steyer, the California billionaire who entered the race on Tuesday, plans to focus his campaign in part on climate change.

But even if a green-minded Democrat wins the White House, dramatic action to reverse climate change could very well require another radical change in Washington: the elimination of the Senate filibuster.

Climate legislation is hardly the only issue that might lead either party to do away with the filibuster, which allows a minority of senators to block most legislation from receiving a vote unless 60 senators agree to cut off debate.

In most cases, if you cannot convince 60 Senators to agree to legislation than it is not good legislation, and the filibuster is there to protect the minority from tyranny

But climate change, with its high stakes, is increasingly being viewed as one of the issues that could finally push Democrats, who remain deeply divided over the filibuster, to kill it off for good, if given the chance.

“Climate change is an existential threat, and there is just no way to deal with climate change without getting rid of the filibuster,” Mr. Inslee said. “You cannot allow an arcane, antebellum, antiquated procedure to block progress.”

Funny, Democrats have been screeching about the threat to democracy since Trump was elected, yet, they want to kill off one of the main methods in protecting the minority in our Constitutional Federalist Democracy to pass legislation that is opposed by half the country. Perhaps more. Doing Something may be popular in theory, but, not in practice.

John Kerry, the former secretary of state and Massachusetts senator, was the lead author of the last major climate change bill that Democrats tried to push through the Senate, in 2010. Despite having majorities in both chambers of Congress and a champion of the bill in the White House, Democrats were forced to abandon the legislation when it became clear it could not muster 60 votes.

Mr. Kerry, who as secretary of state served as a lead broker of the Paris climate change accord in 2015, said he has been reflecting on whether the filibuster needs to be retired — specifically, to clear the way for a climate change bill.

“The Senate’s pretty broken, and this is not a moment to be stuck in the old ways,” he said. Still, he allowed that should the filibuster be dissolved, “It could quickly become a moment of, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’”

The filibuster is not a bug, it is a feature. It is mean to make sure that parties cannot jam through legislation. It is supposed to be very hard to pass legislation. And, yes, Kerry is correct, be careful what you wish for. If the filibuster wasn’t present Obamacare would already be gone, for one.

But, hey, if you can’t convince people, just change the rules, right?

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11 Responses to “To Jam Through Unpopular Climate Legislation The Filibuster Must Be Destroyed Or Something”

  1. Kye says:

    It’s always amusing to watch the people who scream the loudest about how Trump and his supporters are fascists yet want to eliminate the filibuster, eliminate the electoral college, stack the supreme court, institute a national popular vote so as to include non citizens with drivers licences, and other non republican protections.

    They have realized to great weakness to democracy, absolute rule by a majority to the detriment of the minority, and intend to turn out Republic with it’s minority protections into first a democratic dictatorship and with them counting the votes we all know what that means.

    Trump 2020 Save the Republic!

  2. Professor Hale says:

    “If the filibuster wasn’t present Obamacare would already be gone, for one.”

    And if the Republicans in the Senate had exercised their filibuster when they were the minority party, there would never have been an Obamacare. Just another reminder that Both parties want the same progressive agenda. Republicans just want it slower. And that’s why Trump got elected. he isn’t a Republican.

    • Kye says:

      Frankly, Professor, I don’t know what anything is any more. I’m registered Republican but have had very little in common with the party for twenty years. In fact the only reason I even voted Republican was because the Democrats have such a shit-awful, anti-American platform, agenda and candidates I had no real choice. Even though Trump is not really a Republican historically he is closer to what I consider a real Republican than almost any other politician I can name.

      Trump 2020 Keep the momentum!

      • Professor Hale says:

        I understand the confusion. There are multiple groups calling themselves Republicans, not counting factions in the party, which are aligned around issues.
        Group 1: Elected officials bearing the party label. The label itself says nothing about their political loyalty or agendas. Anyone can claim to be a Republican. There is no loyalty oath or qualification test.
        Group 2: Party leadership. They go to the conventions and meet in closed session about the direction of the party. This is fewer than 100 people. They seriously could not care less what voters want. They only care about how much fun it is to be in their little club with all the other cool kids.
        Group 3: Registered Republican voters. Again, no loyalty oaths required. In fact, in many safe districts, it is common for Democrats to register as Republicans so they can monkey with the republican primaries. This can literally be anyone, even people who are not eligible to vote in the USA, no matter what their political beliefs are.

        To rephrase, Trump got elected because he was not from any of the above groups. He was from outside the swamp of group 1’s and 2’s that the majority of Group 3’s have been supporting only to be disappointed when those people get into office and don’t seem to make any progress at all on doing the things they told voters they cared about.

        Most of what is considered a party platform has been nothing but a marketing campaign since Reagan trying to appeal to the most party factions as possible.

        The label “conservative” is even worse. But since elected conservatives couldn’t even conserve the women’s bathroom, what good are they?

        • Professor Hale says:

          Addendum:
          Group 4. Mostly overlaps with group 3. Habitual Republican party voters. There are a lot of people who claim to be “independent”, but then vote habitually Democrat. Those people are Democrats. Similarly, those people who find themselves always pulling the level for Republican candidates can be said to be Republicans. The reasons really don’t matter because they change from year to year depending and what the candidates tell us is the most important issue that year.

          The Democratic party, BTW has exactly the same groups for the same reasons. All of them can wear the label “Democrat”.

  3. Kye says:

    That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Professor. Goofy Elwood keeps referring to me (us) as nuCons, neocons and other assorted names I assume he thinks are insults but since I consider myself none of these I couldn’t care less. It’s just frustrating to have to say what I’m not rather than what I am. I Don’t have a problem saying I’m Lutheran. No confusion there (so far but they’re pushing the envelope). I have no problem identifying as an American of mostly German and mixed Irish decent. That’s unchangeable unless you’re a leftist. Then again nowadays the radical left has made being unpatriotic and hating America main stream so maybe that’s in play too.

    I do know that by leftist standards if you are an eyelash to the right of Chiquita Khrushchev you’re a right-wing, homophobic, misogynistic white supremacist. Just ask Elwood or John.

    The Republican Party is worth nothing as you say and gets walked all over by the Democrats who by the time they acknowledged they are Democrat Socialists they had moved beyond that to Democrat Communists. So we have no real representation if we are just plain old American Patriots uninterested in fundamentally changing what America is into a “diverse” hellhole of communist theory and minority rule. I don’t think “our elites” understand that if the “diversity” get power they will quickly change America to more resemble their own countries. After all, that’s the culture THEY built and they have no ability to run the one we built or they would have done so instead of sneaking in here.

    Trump 2020 Anyone else is suicide!

    • Professor Hale says:

      Fundamentally, Most Americans just want to be left alone. And that is one thing the Left can never allow us. Most of the people who vote Republican do so because they think that is most likely to deliver being left alone. A government that leaves most of us alone, makes America great.

      • formwiz says:

        That government governs best…

      • david7134 says:

        I think most vote Republican because the people put forward are somewhat sane. I hated Bush, but he was not Gore or Kerry. Obama was actually forced into the office by both parties, even the janitor would have been better. But I do agree, we just want to be left alone, they can’t understand that.

    • Professor Hale says:

      “Neocon” is dog whistle code for “Jew”. And it only ever really applied to about 15 people. None of those people have been in power since the Bush administration. The way the Left uses it is exactly like they use “racist” and “White Supremacist”. Anyone they disagree with is one. They have to keep coming up with new words though after the old words no longer sting.

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