The filibuster is not just helping authoritarians damage democracy; it's endangering all life on planet Earth, including the future of the human species
In 1939, Winston Churchill said Russia is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
What better way to describe Thomas Jefferson’s failed experiment in democracy in its modern iteration? With all the wisdom whizzed throughout human history in the never-ending quest for intelligent self-governance, what, we end up with some absurd procedural obscurity called a “filibuster” that can overrule the will of the majority for no good reason? What, a cynical minority, who lost their right to govern through free and fair elections of, by, for the People, can thwart attempts to govern by legislators who earned that mandate from the voters fair and square? What, worms of consciousness with no souls can use a stupid parlor trick to stop progress on the big issues facing every living thing on planet Earth?
The minority-rule filibuster is white privilege, wrapped in fascism, inside a plutocracy.
As always, Thom’s messaging and framing of the perils facing our living world is spot on. Ending the filibuster is an existentially important act, but the oligarchs and billionaires need it to make sure that the Senate remains the place where democratic progress goes to die. As Thom also noted, “In every regard, at every level, somebody is making money off all this. A lot of money.” And those that are making that money are the same kind of avaricious sociopaths that don’t care if the 6th Mass Extinction is at our shores. Whether it’s Mitch McConnell accommodating a Russian aluminum oligarch, or Joe Manchin (big coal’s favorite toady) told to preserve the filibuster (that most racist of all senatorial strategies), (or any number of other senators doing the bidding of the war/carbon/money oligarchs that bribe and/or otherwise coerce them), the Senate is a toxic joke on our democracy. I have heard countless references to the filibuster and its “history” over the last few weeks. Virtually every mention has been of 20th Century filibuster examples blocking civil rights legislation and NOTHING about John Calhoun’s mission to preserve slavery, (much less the “Gag Rule” of 1836). Whenever our elected officials discuss spending money to promote the general welfare of our citizens, the oligarchs make sure their propaganda machines dust off their specious comparison of socialism vs. capitalism. In our democracy we do not have a form of Marxist socialism, however we do “socialize” the costs of building and managing our commons. This includes our public education and healthcare, as well as our land, air, water, physical and virtual infrastructures, assets, resources, and those things we need to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, etc., i.e., what we share as Americans. And we should be doing it with best practice-based solutions. In our “capitalist” economy that runs within our democracy, we must maintain the power of that capitalism like a properly regulated nuclear reactor. That is, it should create great value without externalizing harms to anyone. I believe that education is the single most valuable investment we can make as a country, and had we continued to improve our public education system after Nixon’s reign, we wouldn’t have enough citizens who could be fooled all of the time into believing the oligarchs' big con. Our public education system must be the role model for the rest of the world, and we should start with emulating the methods and techniques from the world’s best system, Finland (please check out this link that explains why Finland is the role model for the world and not us https://bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world). There are no good reasons why America doesn’t have the world’s best public education, just bad ones. I submit that as long as money is speech and corporations enjoy the rights of our citizens, things will not change in time to save our planet’s livability. The good news is there’s a way to fix this.
This country competes in the International Market with countries that provide cheap or free college education. How long can we compete. The USA bring in Engineers from India and other countries on special Visas to work in the tech industry. They got free college education in excellent Engineering Schools (India Institute of Technology). They work for very low wages. The next cubicle over might be an American Engineer from Stanford with $200000 in college loans to payoff. Plus his wages are being held down by the Indian Engineer accepting lower wages.
Our infrastructure is falling apart. I worked overseas a lot and have seen real infrastructure in South Korea, Taiwan and China.
We have the cart in front of the horse. The most important decision that the Senate votes on is a lifetime appointment to The Supreme Court. That is currently set at 51%. If you want to name a Post Office, someone can object and it requires 61%. Plus the Senators are influenced by the money. The Party money controls their vote, not their conscience. Then you have the power of the low populated states. It takes 22 smaller states to add up to California's population. They get 44 Senators, CA gets 2. SD, ND, MT, WY and NB do not = the population of CO. a mid size state. They get 10 Co gets 2. Why do these nowhere states get such power?
In 1939, Winston Churchill said Russia is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
What better way to describe Thomas Jefferson’s failed experiment in democracy in its modern iteration? With all the wisdom whizzed throughout human history in the never-ending quest for intelligent self-governance, what, we end up with some absurd procedural obscurity called a “filibuster” that can overrule the will of the majority for no good reason? What, a cynical minority, who lost their right to govern through free and fair elections of, by, for the People, can thwart attempts to govern by legislators who earned that mandate from the voters fair and square? What, worms of consciousness with no souls can use a stupid parlor trick to stop progress on the big issues facing every living thing on planet Earth?
The minority-rule filibuster is white privilege, wrapped in fascism, inside a plutocracy.
"Man" by Steve Cutts:
https://vimeo.com/56093731
"Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO5FwsblpT8
As always, Thom’s messaging and framing of the perils facing our living world is spot on. Ending the filibuster is an existentially important act, but the oligarchs and billionaires need it to make sure that the Senate remains the place where democratic progress goes to die. As Thom also noted, “In every regard, at every level, somebody is making money off all this. A lot of money.” And those that are making that money are the same kind of avaricious sociopaths that don’t care if the 6th Mass Extinction is at our shores. Whether it’s Mitch McConnell accommodating a Russian aluminum oligarch, or Joe Manchin (big coal’s favorite toady) told to preserve the filibuster (that most racist of all senatorial strategies), (or any number of other senators doing the bidding of the war/carbon/money oligarchs that bribe and/or otherwise coerce them), the Senate is a toxic joke on our democracy. I have heard countless references to the filibuster and its “history” over the last few weeks. Virtually every mention has been of 20th Century filibuster examples blocking civil rights legislation and NOTHING about John Calhoun’s mission to preserve slavery, (much less the “Gag Rule” of 1836). Whenever our elected officials discuss spending money to promote the general welfare of our citizens, the oligarchs make sure their propaganda machines dust off their specious comparison of socialism vs. capitalism. In our democracy we do not have a form of Marxist socialism, however we do “socialize” the costs of building and managing our commons. This includes our public education and healthcare, as well as our land, air, water, physical and virtual infrastructures, assets, resources, and those things we need to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, etc., i.e., what we share as Americans. And we should be doing it with best practice-based solutions. In our “capitalist” economy that runs within our democracy, we must maintain the power of that capitalism like a properly regulated nuclear reactor. That is, it should create great value without externalizing harms to anyone. I believe that education is the single most valuable investment we can make as a country, and had we continued to improve our public education system after Nixon’s reign, we wouldn’t have enough citizens who could be fooled all of the time into believing the oligarchs' big con. Our public education system must be the role model for the rest of the world, and we should start with emulating the methods and techniques from the world’s best system, Finland (please check out this link that explains why Finland is the role model for the world and not us https://bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world). There are no good reasons why America doesn’t have the world’s best public education, just bad ones. I submit that as long as money is speech and corporations enjoy the rights of our citizens, things will not change in time to save our planet’s livability. The good news is there’s a way to fix this.
This country competes in the International Market with countries that provide cheap or free college education. How long can we compete. The USA bring in Engineers from India and other countries on special Visas to work in the tech industry. They got free college education in excellent Engineering Schools (India Institute of Technology). They work for very low wages. The next cubicle over might be an American Engineer from Stanford with $200000 in college loans to payoff. Plus his wages are being held down by the Indian Engineer accepting lower wages.
Our infrastructure is falling apart. I worked overseas a lot and have seen real infrastructure in South Korea, Taiwan and China.
https://www.heritage.org/index/?gclid=cj0kcqjw0ocdbhcparisaii3c_g18av_c_7q-a4oahwh84bfdkrzgfw9eiw9nibexhmpuazemnp26puaansdealw_wcb?gclid=cj0kcqjw0ocdbhcparisaii3c_g18av_c_7q-a4oahwh84bfdkrzgfw9eiw9nibexhmpuazemnp26puaansdealw_wcb
https://www.google.com/search?q=infrastructure+in+south+korea&hl=en&authuser=0&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALeKk02KSz6oVWiAnvVjqc9wI1LbnWVobw%3A1616935929747&source=hp&biw=1707&bih=781&ei=-XtgYKn3KozbtAaUz4W4DA&oq=infrastructure+in+south+korea&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAA6BAgjECc6BQgAELEDOggIABCxAxCDAToGCAAQBRAeOgYIABAIEB46BAgAEBhQ0AxYtFdg7GloAHAAeAOAAY4IiAGfHpIBDjE3LjMuNC0xLjAuMS4xmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ved=0ahUKEwjp19vdg9PvAhWMLc0KHZRnAccQ4dUDCAc&uact=5
We have the cart in front of the horse. The most important decision that the Senate votes on is a lifetime appointment to The Supreme Court. That is currently set at 51%. If you want to name a Post Office, someone can object and it requires 61%. Plus the Senators are influenced by the money. The Party money controls their vote, not their conscience. Then you have the power of the low populated states. It takes 22 smaller states to add up to California's population. They get 44 Senators, CA gets 2. SD, ND, MT, WY and NB do not = the population of CO. a mid size state. They get 10 Co gets 2. Why do these nowhere states get such power?