Filibuster Hypocrisy

In 2017, the Republican Party controlled the U.S. Senate. While he was the Majority Leader of the Senate, Harry Reid disposed of the Senate’s filibuster rule for the limited purpose of confirming Supreme Court justices and other federal judges, paving the way for the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

In early April, 2017, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter addressed to then Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, urging them to protect and preserve the filibuster rule. The letter cited the numerous traditional reasons for the rule that preserves the voice of a minority within the Senate. A significant number of the Democrat Senators who are currently in office signed the letter. Today, of course, with the Democrat Party holding a razor thin majority [solely due to the role of the Vice President], those same Democrats demand abolishing the filibuster; it is anti-democratic, they argue. In reality, the rule is “anti-Democrat.”

Ratcatcher believes that elected officials ought to be accountable for their votes whenever possible. To that end, here is a list of the current Democrats in the Senate who demanded the preservation of the filibuster rule when Republicans controlled the Senate but now are demanding abolition of the rule:

Dianne Feinstein, California;

Michael F. Bennet, Colorado;

Thomas R. Carper, Delaware;

Christopher A. Coons, Delaware;

Mazie K. Hirono, Hawaii;

Brian Schatz, Hawaii;

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois;

Angus King, Maine;

Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts;

Debbie Stabenow, Massachusetts;

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota;

Jon Tester, Montana;

Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire;

Margaret Wood Hassan, New Hampshire;

Robert Menendez, New Jersey;

Cory A. Booker, New Jersey;

Martin Heinrich, New Mexico;

Kirsten Gillibrand, New York;

Sherrod Brown, Ohio;

Robert P. Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania;

Jack Reed, Rhode Island;

Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island;

Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont;

Mark R. Warner, Virginia;

Tim Kaine, Virginia;

Maria Cantell, Washington

These Senators ought to be called on their hypocrisy – very specifically! They should each be reminded of their letter of April 2017. This latest demand for the abolition of the filibuster rule is nothing more than an opportunistic effort to change the control of the American government forever. The Democrats are playing a long game. Once they are rid of the troublesome filibuster rule that allows the Republican Senators a modicum of control over the legislative agenda of the Senate, the Democrats will move ahead at once with their promised agents – pack the Supreme Court; admit Washington DC and Puerto Rico as new states guaranteeing the Democrats a permanent electoral majority; change the voting laws to remove any restrictions on voting by illegal aliens; and put in motion an effort to get rid of the Electoral College which currently provides electoral and representational protection to states with small populations. All of these issues are threatened by the abolition of the rule.

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